---
title: "Content creator Olivia Viglatzis fights hunger one budget meal at a time"
description: "Content creator Olivia ‘Olive’ Viglatzis has turned budget cooking into a mission against hunger, sharing affordable recipes online while feeding vulnerable people in Cape Town."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "FEED THE DREAM"
author: "Iman Allie"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/iman-allie/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-28-content-creator-olivia-viglatzis-fights-hunger-one-budget-meal-at-a-time/"
published: "2026-10-28T11:50:09"
updated: "2026-10-28T12:08:49"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 753
---

# Content creator Olivia Viglatzis fights hunger one budget meal at a time

> Content creator Olivia ‘Olive’ Viglatzis has turned budget cooking into a mission against hunger, sharing affordable recipes online while feeding vulnerable people in Cape Town.

By Iman Allie · Published 28 October 2026, 13:50 SAST · Updated 28 October 2026, 14:08 SAST

## Key points
- Olivia “Olive” Viglatzis has turned budget cooking into a social mission, showing her growing online following how to make balanced meals for as little as R20 a portion.
- Her practical recipes — built around staples such as cabbage, rice, eggs and meat — have struck a chord with students and households facing mounting financial pressure.
- Beyond the screen, Viglatzis and her wife, Veronica Bezuidenhout, prepare and distribute charity meals to pensioners, job seekers and other vulnerable people in Cape Town.
- Her ambition is to open a soup kitchen and take her message further: no one should go hungry, and feeding people well need not cost a fortune.

## Content

Olivia “Olive” Viglatzis, or as her followers know her, [olive\_foodie](https://www.tiktok.com/@olive_foodie), has amassed more than 100,000 followers on TikTok and 150,000 on Facebook.

Viglatzis has gained this popularity largely from her budget meal series, in which she showcases how to cook balanced meals on a tight budget.

What began as posting cooking videos online for fun has given her a huge platform. But to this content creator her following is not what matters, but rather the message she is trying to spread: “No one should go hungry.”

![Olivia "Olive" Viglatzis demonstrates how to cook pork, cabbage and rice on a budget. (Screenshot: olive_foodie)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/D65_38l3BEQBgglD33FLQslQaCg=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Iman-OliveFoodie7_594971.jpg)

*Olivia "Olive" Viglatzis demonstrates how to cook pork, cabbage and rice on a budget. (Screenshot: olive\_foodie)*

### Cooking with Olive

About four years ago Viglatzis started the budget meal series on TikTok, from her own kitchen. She told Daily Maverick that she originally cooked meals at R40 per portion, but recently challenged herself to do it for as little as R20.

Viglatzis’s budget meals usually consist of vegetables such as cabbage, a carbohydrate like rice and a protein source such as an egg or meat.

“What’s important for me is to show people out there that even with this economy you can still eat a good meal. And that’s why I always say at the end, ‘be kind, be nice, because this might be someone’s only meal for the day’,” she says.

![Content creator Olivia "Olive" Viglatzis shows her followers how to cook a budget meal on TikTok. (Screenshot: olive_foodie)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/iVVfXPcvyEZDBAfcmlLJvF5DBT8=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Iman-OliveFoodie1_207751.jpg)

*Olivia Viglatzis demonstrates how to cook a budget meal on TikTok. (Screenshot: olive\_foodie)*

While Viglatzis expected her following to be mainly mothers in their forties owing to the nature of her content, to her surprise a large number are students.

Perhaps it’s because many students only have a pan or a pot, a tight budget and not enough time for complex dishes like chicken with béchamel sauce, she added.

Viglatzis thinks fondly about students who have contacted her in gratitude. She says it has been amazing to hear that she has made life a little easier for financially struggling students by showing them that eating a good meal is still possible.

### Juggling the public and the personal

Viglatzis usually posts her budget meal videos about three times a week, while her wife, Veronica Bezuidenhout, helps film and edit the videos, she says.

Viglatzis also occasionally livestreams, so people can watch her cook in real time and sometimes glimpse the behind-the-scenes of filming a budget meal video.

Her content is typically filmed after work and it usually takes about five hours to film and edit, Viglatzis says. Most content creation is done in the evenings, she adds, noting that she and Bezuidenhout have full-time jobs to juggle as well.

Their secret to a balanced life? Always have supper with her wife in the evenings, spend quality time together on Sunday and take a break from content creation every now and then.

![Olivia "Olive" Viglatzis demonstrates how to cook a tomato 'smoortjie' with egg and rice on a budget. (Screenshot: olive_foodie)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/0eOacd8tOFL9rK5YFQyDQRo4R9I=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Iman-OliveFoodie5_702206.jpg)

*Olivia "Olive" Viglatzis demonstrates how to cook a tomato 'smoortjie' with egg and rice on a budget. (Screenshot: olive\_foodie)*

### How far a 10th can go

At the start of the Covid pandemic, Viglatzis and her wife began cooking and distributing food parcels in their community of Richwood, Cape Town.

She now puts together and distributes food parcels, or “charity meals”, for the less fortunate, such as pensioners and job seekers, mainly in Richwood and Bothasig, at least once a month, she says.

Through her videos she tries to teach that it is possible to cook large volumes of food to feed others in a cost-effective way, she explains.

Viglatzis says she is often asked for advice on how to start feeding initiatives. She strongly advises others to start by feeding those in need in their immediate community and to follow her financial philosophy.

“Take your 10th and do good for others,” she always says.

![Content creator Olivia "Olive" Viglatzis distributing food parcels to those in need.  (Screenshot: olive_foodie)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/NMob7qq4ByhfU5zAuA1w7j1-g4s=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Iman-OliveFoodie3_427898.jpg)

*Olivia Viglatzis distributes food parcels to those in need. (Screenshot: olive\_foodie)*

### Sharing her message far and wide

Viglatzis hopes to expand her feeding initiatives and one day open her own soup kitchen, employ workers and thus put food on more tables.

She also dreams of taking her budget meals from phone screens to the small screen. She would love the opportunity to host her own television series or miniseries on how to prepare meals on a budget. She emphasises that fame is not her aim, but rather to spread the message far and wide that people can be properly fed on a tight budget.

But whether or not these dreams are realised, Viglatzis says she will always remain satisfied with simply spreading awareness about affordable meals and that it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to feed those in need. **DM**