Little chef is a smooth operator
Youngster whips up mayonnaise sales to help his brother
BROTHERLY love has been taken to a new level in a Pietermaritzburg home.
Budding chef Gary Sparrow, 6, came up with the idea of producing his very own gourmet mayonnaise to sell, in order to raise funds to make life easier for his eight-year-old brother, who suffers from Type 1 diabetes.
The idea is to get him a continuous glucose monitoring system, which will mean only five pinpricks a day, rather than the current 12, to keep an eye on his glucose levels.
“It’s tough,” said his father, Dave Sparrow, adding that in spite of John having five injections a day in addition to his pinpricks, he is a “brave trooper”.
“The machine will help him control his sugar better. At the moment his sugar levels are up and down, and with the pinpricks we don’t know if it’s going up, down, left or right.”
He said his medical aid considered the device a luxury item and that affording one at R2 000 a month was a serious stretch on the family’s finances.
John was diagnosed with the condition in August and is not alone with it. His mother, Tracy, has it, as does her father.
But also running in the family is a passion for cooking.
Little Gary has been at it for much of his young life under the guidance of his uncle, amateur chef Graeme Sparrow.
“He has been cooking Eggs Benedict since he was five-and-a-half,” said Graeme. “He would rather be in the kitchen than watching television and he has the most amazing palate for a six-year-old.”
Basil is special ingredient of Gary’s gourmet mayonnaise and it comes from a surprise source – it is one of few plants that his mother has been able to grow successfully.
“I love planting things but everything I plant just dies. I’m the opposite of green fingers. However, this one random batch of basil has been different. I thought let’s try it, but not expecting anything given my history. And it flourished.”
The product is also the result of a carefully constructed business plan where Gary is the chef, John is the accountant and the brothers’ cousin from Johannesburg, Jack Sparrow, is the developer.
They took out a loan from their grandmother, who, at first, did not wish to charge them interest, but the middle generation insisted on it, to make sure they would be serious about the business.
Family friends and relatives have helped in the distribution at outlets as far away as Durban and Port Elizabeth.
John has seen up to 10 bottles fly off the fridge shelves in a day and has worked out that three mayonnaise sales a day will finance the device his parents hope to acquire early in the new year.
Gary himself said he “really wanted to do something to help my brother”, while John believes that he has “the best brother”.
The boys attend Merchiston Preparatory School in the provincial capital.
Visit the Facebook page “Gary’s Gourmet Mayonnaise” at www.facebook.com/garysmayo/ for more information.