"I like working in the kitchen because I can cook at the same time. My favourite is cooking a mutton curry - with garlic, of course," Tshabalala-Msimang said.
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"I put the issue of Toronto behind me. There are many other things for me to do as minister of health. Toronto was nothing like the media said it was.
"When I came back I had to pinch myself to recall whether there was a furore or not.
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"Many asked, who is this Manto, many wanted to know who is Manto," she said, using an American accent. "It was really amusing.
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"The TAC is a small group able to mobilise globally. There is nothing wrong with that, but here we take them too seriously.
"I have my own views, but all South Africans must ask why (the TAC) behaves the way it does."
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"Sometime I wonder about South Africans, because the perception out there is that South Africans are dying of HIV and Aids, while we have forgotten diabetes."
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Asked how she handles the perception of her being a heartless advocate of garlic and beetroot while people are suffering from Aids, she said people did not know how the government operated.
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"What can they do? They didn't appoint me. I'm appointed by the president," she said, adding that she had no sleepless nights over her critics. "When I go to bed, I am thinking about how I can build the team and do what we are doing, better."
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"When I attend parliament, he's alone. That's the life we had during the struggle. Sometimes he's here, sometimes he's not."
She is not ready to contemplate life away from politics. "Don't prejudge people who vote. I cannot say what will happen in future. I can't say who will be president and whether the president will want me as the minister of health. I am guided by the ANC, which I joined in 1958, and I don't know any other life," she said
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"I can't stop working. The health of the nation depends on it," she said.
It's a tough job I'm doing, says Manto Oct 08 06
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