Young Chef dreams big
From a tender age, rising chef Shingirai Mqhelewenkosi Chigombe set his eyes on cooking as a career something that was unpopular among his peers then .
Chigombe told Standard Style last week how he developed a keen interest in choosing culinary as a career from a tender age and this is testament to the indelible mark he is setting in the industry
“The one thing that really pushed me to want to be a chef was as a result of seeing a lot of cooking shows on the TV," Chigombe said.
"Honestly, when I started off it was baking cakes at home. It got to a point where my daddy said we are no longer going to buy cakes for birthdays because he was enjoying my cakes so much and that is when I fell in love with cooking.”
The dream beckons
The former Waterfort Primary School student recalls when some of his former classmates laughed at him for choosing to be a chef as a career.
“It’s one of those days when you are at school and you teacher says what would you like to do when you grow up. Everyone is standing up to say I want to be a doctor or an architect," he said.
“I remember one of those days
I stood up to say I wanted to be a chef and everyone in the class just laughed .They took it as joke but it did not waiver me from pursuing cooking as a career."
The young chef completed his Grade 7 in Zimbabwe and moved to South Africa where he completed his secondary school education.
Learning experience
After finishing Matrics, Shingi The Chef, as he is affectionately known , enrolled at the International Hotel School.
“We moved to South Africa where I did my Grade 8-11 at Verney College and later moved to Free State where I finished off my Matrics at Ladybrand Academy," he said.
“After Matrics I then enrolled at the International Hotel School in 2015 where initially I started by joining the Tourism and Hospitality Management programme, but six months through the course I found myself exposed to the kitchen once again.
‘It was at that point I went back to my parents and told them management was not my thing I was going back to the kitchen by studying Culinary Arts Professional Cookery with the same institution."
Chigombe said in South Africa he got well-exposed to the culinary industry. For instance he worked as kitchen manager at
Capello Hotel where he admits that it was a daunting experience, but a learning curve.
Back to ‘roots’
“In 2018, I came back to Zimbabwe to help my friend Nqobile Sibanda to cater for the 2018 Cricket World Cup qualifiers and this was one of my major highlights in my career,” Shingi The Chef said.
He was to later work at Victoria Falls Hotel as a pastry chef and in 2019 he moved to Stanley and Livingstone Boutique Hotel where he is employed.
Enter the new concept ‘Pop Up Kitchens’
The youthful chef is awed with his ‘Pop Up Kitchens’ concept which are a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe. He did the first edition last year in December.
“So last year in December I came up with a new concept which is a first of its kind in Zimbabwe," Chigombe said.
“It is a concept that I planned back from the days when I was still in South Africa with some friends. The ‘Pop Up Kitchens’ are spontaneous, you don’t know when the next will happen.
“The first one I did here in Victoria Falls was a ‘Pop Up Dinner’ which was a five-course-meal."
Chigombe said after successfully hosting the first edition, he, however, realised that there is a lot of planning that needs to be factored, hence for the next ‘Pop Up Kitchen’ he has roped in three of his friends namely Liberty Makaza, Denzel Moyo and Clayton Gumbo.
The next ‘Pop Up Kitchen’ is slated for February 12 just before the Valentine’s Day.
According to Shingi The Chef, the support from his parents has been unwavering and he also believes that society is slowly now accepting that the ‘kitchen’ is not a preserve for women only .
He, however, bemoans the fickle support from the government and the corporate sector for the culinary industry.