Bake Off boss chows down on a bunny

He has sampled the best of baking across the globe, and now British celebrity chef Paul Hollywood has developed a taste for bunny chow.

Hollywood was in Cape Town this week, filming an episode for his second season of Paul Hollywood City Bakes, in which he creates dishes inspired by local recipes, delicacies and flavours.

Wandering around central Cape Town, Hollywood tried a steak bunny chow from a market. Then a mutton bunny chow. Then the chicken.

"I was fascinated. I wanted to know where the bread comes from. It was like a white bread tin that had been hollowed out and I thought: 'This is very practical.' I was quite impressed with that," he said.

Back in England, Hollywood - who shot to fame as a judge on The Great British Bake Off - eats stew with a fork in one hand and a hunk of bread in the other, which he uses to mop up the goodies.

"It felt quite natural to eat it straight out of the bread," he said.

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Local chefs Siba Mtongana and Reuben Riffel have helped Hollywood navigate the Cape Town food scene, which hasn't been easy for him to pinpoint.

"It is difficult to find food here that you can hang your hat on and say: 'That is the definitive South African food,'" he said.

But that is the point of the show. It is about the journey.

"I didn't want it to be a straightforward baking show. The architecture and people are just as important as the bakes. It's about travel. It's about food. It's about culture."

In Iceland, he made a "fruit cake and buried it in the earth and let the volcano cook it".

In Los Angeles, he said, he couldn't work out how all the people surrounded by delicious confections were stick-thin. "I wanted to ask: 'Do you actually eat the cakes or just sniff them?'"

In Israel last week, he worked with bakers making Yemeni Jewish breads, then dipped into desserts with Palestinians.

"When you have people from different places and perspectives cooking, that is when things come together," he said.

"The UN is a waste of time. You need to get everyone around the pan."

•'City Bakes' will air at 8pm on Fridays from May 26 on Food Network, DStv channel 175