When epic cuisine enters the food scene
Megan Baadjies spoke to four young chefs who are making their mark on the culinary scene
Amanda Vermaak
DEAF American actress Marlee Matlin once said the handicap of deafness is not in the ear, it’s in the mind – Amanda Vermaak is a living example of this.
The self-taught pastry chef at the Table Bay Hotel said she learnt everything she knew while working in professional kitchens.
“My passion for cooking, baking and all things culinary has grown immensely over the past couple of years,” she said. “Communication is very important, so imagine not being able to hear what people are saying all day – let alone in a lifetime.”
Restaurant and hotel kitchens are known to get quite loud – whether it’s screaming chefs or utensils clanging as they hit the floor.
Fortunately for Vermaak, 37, this is not a problem she has to deal with.
“I can lip-read really well and I enjoy not hearing other chefs when they yell at me or when they are shouting,” she said in jest.
Vermaak said cooking and baking were all about “vision, tasting and alertness, with minimal communication”. THE hospitality industry is a demanding one, and that can also be very intimidating.
There is more to this fast-paced business than putting on your chef’s jacket and flipping a burger.
With the demanding hours and cut-throat environment, it’s only the extraordinary who can stand the heat. These four dynamic chefs are fast becoming some of the best in the country.
Leigh-Ann Modise
LIKE most chefs, Leigh-Ann Modise’s love for cooking started in her home kitchen.
She says she dreams of opening her own restaurant one day.
Starting her career at the fivestar Saxon Hotel, in Sandhurst, Johannesburg, the 21-year-old Modise says that, as a young chef, one of the biggest challenges is earning the trust and respect of older chefs.
“The more senior chefs find it difficult to trust the quality of your work until you’ve proven yourself to them,” she says.
“I’d like to see more female chefs recognised for the work they do and for their contribution to the culinary scene in South Africa… (and) more black and coloured female-owned restaurants in upmarket areas.
“However, when it comes to the growth of the industry, I admire how far we’ve come.
“I am delighted to be part of Africa’s most recognised and fastestgrowing industries,” she says.
Eugene Ramcharan
LAST year, chef Eugene Ramcharan won the Distell Inter Hotel Challenge in the Best Chef category.
The Durban-based chef says his love affair with food started when he was just a child.
“I come from a family of foodies and ever since I was young I was drawn into the kitchen. I then pursued (cooking) as a professional career,” he said.
Ramcharan, 22, who works at the Beverly Hills Hotel, said his culinary career hasn’t been without its share of challenges.
“Learning how to cope and work under pressure was a huge challenge,” he said. “Stepping into a professional kitchen for the first time at the age of 19, you go up against some chefs with experience almost as old as you are.”
Ramcharan said he hoped to inspire a generation of chefs to follow their interest.
“I would like to promote local talent in the industry so that we all can recognise and take interest in the hard work that chefs put in daily. Behind every beautifully plated dish, there is a team of dedicated individuals who are doing what they love the most to give guests the best experience ever,” he said.
Luyanda Mafanya
LAST year, self-taught chef Luyanda Mafanya tweeted her way into rapper Cassper Nyovest’s kitchen.
The tenacious young chef scored the opportunity to host a private dinner for the Gets Getsa singer after he challenged her to get 10 000 retweets.
The challenge was accepted and within six hours she was preparing to be his private chef.
More recently, she was one of the contestants in the local reality show, My Kitchen Rules South Africa, where she was eliminated in the semi-finals this past Sunday.
Although Luyanda, 24, and partner Donald Chipumha didn’t win the competition, she remains one of the country’s young chefs to watch.
A BComm logistics student at the University of Johannesburg, Mafanya said she started cooking at 7.
“I used to love making my dad breakfast whenever I’d visit him during school holidays,” she said.
In addition to Nyovest, Mafanya has also cooked for local celebrity,