Watch: Meet the extraordinary and ‘magical’ Chef Mavis

Mavis (39) was surprised when she heard that she had to pack her bags for India.

“I didn’t even have a passport at the time. I screamed and cried emotionally out of excitement,” said the Windmill Park resident.

And off she went to home affairs to get ready for her first overseas trip.

“I am blessed to have been nominated out of all the chefs at Emperors Palace and I was the only women who went.

Boksburg Advertiser interviews Emperors Palace’s chef de partie, Mavis Netshituka:

“It’s just a blessing from God, but hard work does pay off.”

Chef de partie David Phangane and senior sous-chef Russell Moodley joined Mavis on this adventure, which took place in April, for two weeks.

Mavis grew up in Venda, Limpopo, and after matriculating she went to Pretoria College where she obtained her N6 hospitality studies qualification.

She described life in Venda as ‘a little bit primitive’ and said they attended school barefoot so those who couldn’t afford shoes didn’t feel left out.

Chef Mavis demonstrates how to prepare a bunny chow:

Mavis works in the Oriana restaurant, in the Peermont Mondior Hotel. A chef de partie assists the sous-chef, however, Oriana doesn’t have a sous-chef at the moment so Mavis runs the kitchen.

Her interest in cooking was inspired by her grandmother, she said but added she was never given the opportunity to learn how to cook at home.

“It was difficult for me to cook because grandma was scared I’d burn myself. There were no stoves during that time, so we were using fire,” Mavis said.

“I told myself I can’t grow up without having the knowledge of cooking – I have to teach myself.

Chef Mavis’s traditional African dish:

“I used to like looking at cooking magazines, but I didn’t have a chance to gain experience because my grandma didn’t want me to touch anything.”

Eventually, in secondary school, at the age of 16, Mavis started to learn to cook and feed her passion.

“I chose home economics as a subject, so I could at least experience cooking at school,” she explained.

And this is where her love for cooking developed.

“In our culture, girls start to cook at the age of nine which means I started learning at a late age,” said Mavis.

Mavis looks up to Jamie Oliver and enjoys watching his cooking programmes on television.

“Whatever he does, is natural. He cooks everything from scratch. He doesn’t buy anything, he just gets it from the garden and makes magic out of it,” she said.

“He is so talented and creative.”

About fifteen years ago, Mavis started working as a casual at Emperors Palace and her potential was soon noticed.

An agency gave her the opportunity to work at Primavera and there she gained experience for five years

Thereafter, she was appointed by Emperors Palace as a demi chef at the Peermont Hotel, where she worked for three years. She has been in her current position for five years.

Mavis said she has learned a lot during her time in India.

“I realised Indians in India are somewhat culturally different from South African Indians,” she explained.

In India, she was taught how to make papadums and dal.

“We also cook dal at Oriana, but our dal is so different to the Indian dal,” said Mavis.

“Even the lamb curry in India is so different. What I’ve realised is, in South Africa we use fake spice and in India they use 100 per cent original spice.”

Mavis is also the cook at home and said food is too expensive.

“I can’t cook as if I’m in a hotel where I can cook different dishes,” she said.

“But my food tastes different and is tasty – it shows it’s a chef’s hand which prepared it.”

Her favourite dish to prepare and eat at home is chicken a la king on rice, with a green salad.

There’s no dish she doesn’t like but said she doesn’t eat bananas.

“I hate anything with banana in it, like Mageu, and I don’t eat carrot cake because it looks like banana bread.”

She prefers sweet dishes to savoury and doesn’t like eating out at restaurants.

“I know how to cook and I know all the tricks. As a chef, I also work long hours and don’t have the time to sit in a restaurant,” said Mavis.

However, she enjoys takeaways because it is ‘quick-quick’.

Mavis’s future is bright and she dreams of one day running her own catering company that hires out culinary equipment.