Africa-Press – Namibia. FOR the first time in history, Namibia will be represented by an all-women team at the African Culinary Cup competition that will be held in Abu Dhabi from 30 May to 3 June.
The team, which consists of three junior chefs, namely Elizabeth Isai (21), Lize van der Merwe (20) and Wilka Angula (24), will present a Namibian-inspired three-course meal that will not only be judged according to taste but also according to aestheticism and precision.
The team will also be judged on time management, hygiene in the kitchen, knife skills and plating.
For a starter, the team will serve poached Kingklip, with a biltong crust on a white kidney bean salad, with red pepper sauce and fish velouté. The main course will be a chicken leg stuffed with omajova, which will be served with Mahangu vetkoek, butternut purée, tomato salsa and baby spinach.
As desert, the team will prepare a beetroot-chocolate cake, with Oshikandela parfait, Omahuku crumble, beetroot mousse, coulis and mint pesto.
The starter will be prepared by Angula, who is not only a Culinary Arts graduate, but has also been cooking since the age of ten.
She said that her love of cooking started because she used to observe her mother and aunts in the kitchen. However, besides the process, it is the look that people get when they eat good food that motivates her.
The main course will be prepared by Isai, who discovered her passion for cooking from watching her stepfather who is also passionate about it.
Her passion expanded over the years and she went on to obtain several chef diplomas from the Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST).
Isai also won first place for cooking (among other awards) at the World Skills competition and will represent Namibia and Africa at the World Skills competition that will be held in Shanghai in China in October.
The dessert will be prepared by Van Der Merwe, who won the Junior Chef of the Year competition in 2018 and now works as a private chef.
She said she discovered her passion at an early age because she realised that the typical schooling system was not for her as it stifled her creativity.
She therefore left the formal schooling system at 16 and pursued a culinary career. She has since obtained a Food and Beverage Management Diploma from Silver Spoon and a Culinary Diploma from The Purple Fig Cooking School.
These young chefs were trained under the leadership of the Namibian Chef Association’s (NamChefs) president, Yannick Schweighardt, who said that he is confident that the junior chefs will win the competition.
However, besides winning, he also hopes that the team will make the country proud and inspire other local chefs to take pride in the profession.
Schweighardt’s confidence in the team is also shared by the association’s vice-president, Philip Klynsmith, who said that he believes that the team has “a brilliant chance of winning in Abu Dhabi with the whole Namibian flavour”.
“The whole Namibian flavour of the menu and how they incorporate that in everything is absolutely incredible,” Klynsmith added.
NamChefs, which is a non-profit association, has previously stated that to make it to Abu Dhabi, the association needs about N$80 000. Engen recently headed this call for assistance and agreed to sponsor the N$80 000. The association also managed to secure sponsorships from Namib Mills, Pfohls Men’s Outfitters, Proband Namibia and Namibia Superspar, among others.
REPRESENT: The Namibian-inspired dishes that the young chefs will serve at the African Culinary Cup, where they will be representing Namibia.
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