Timpu’s will to succeed

CHEFS are needed in hotels, restaurants and other eateries — both private and public. Cooking is, in fact, one profession that offers job opportunities in both good and bad times. For as long as people need to eat and live, chefs will always be in demand.

It’s with this in mind that Timpu Magimbal from Kampung Kenibungan Pitas took up cooking as a career.

“We lived in a typical rural village very far from town. My parents were subsistence farmers living off the land. We planted padi and other food crops on our land and scoured the jungles for vegetables and

other

My parents were subsistence farmers living off the land. — Timpu Magimbal, chief cook

edibles,” the 50-year-old said.

Timpu learned to forage from his parents and community in order to find food and survive.

His people learned to tell edible from inedible plants through generations of foraging. Timpu himself picked up this skill as a child and honed it through adolescence.

“I learned to cook leafy jungle greens in many creative ways. Of course, at that time, there was no choice but to cook them until they were fit for eating,” he said, adding that altough his culninary creativity was limited to his village kitchen, it helped him develop an affinity with cooking.

His parents were poor and had other children to send to school, so when Timpu reached Form Three and got his LCE (Lower Certificate of Education) he left school.

He reckoned with enough schooling to ensure he was not totally illiterate, he could get a job.

He went to work in the supermarket in Kota Marudu as a shop assistant, and after a few months, left for Kota Kinabalu and applied to work in Kinabalu Hyatt International Hotel.

“I was so happy getting a job there as a kitchen helper that I stayed on for 15 years,” he shared.

Timpu tried to learn as much as he could at Hyatt by observing the chefs at work.

After 15 years, confident that he had learnt enough to be a good cook, he went to work for Shangrila Tanjung Aru Hotel as a Chef De Parte.

“I also learned a lot from my time at Tanjung Aru Hotel. After six months, I left to work for Casuarina Hotel as chief cook.

“I stayed there for two years before leaving to work with Sutera Harbours Sanctuary Lodges in Manukan Island as a head chef. I was there for five months,” he recalled.

Subsequently, he went to work for Sutera Harbour’s Megallen Hotel as a head chef and five months later, left to work for a recreation club in the city.

In 2010, he went to work for Dreamworld, a new resort in Kundasang and stayed on for two years.

“In all my workplaces, I looked, watched and learned. I observed what the other chefs did, their presentations and expertise. I learned to cook Asian and western through observation and trial and error. And I’m proud to say I have hundreds of my own recipes created through fusions,” he said.

After working in Kundasang, he took a sabbatical, touring Singapore and Kuala Lumpur for a month, observing food establishments and food presentations in as many places as possible.

Now working with Beringgis Beach Resort in Papar as a head chef, Timpu’s specialities are many and varied and he is especially proud of his creations — honey lamb, orange glazed chicken and fruit cupcake cocktails.

On his career as a chef, he said although his education level was nothing to shout about, his determination to succeed had enabled him to achieve his dream of earning a good living that will spare him the chore of plucking wild vegetables in the kitchen.

“Youths nowadays should be more innovative and resourceful in pursuing a career — either as an employee or in their own business,” he said, adding that there is no shame in starting from the bottom as it will give people a better perspective of their careers and their lives.

On his own family, he said if any of his children wanted to become cooks, he would encourage them although he preferred they got a good education first.

He said he is proud of what he has achieved so far and hopes to scale greater heights with his culinary skills.