Les DaChef cooks up a storm in Giyani
Sondela Academy culinary students battled against each other in the Heritage Day Cookout at Baleni Camp in Giyani on Thursday 23 September.
The ten trainees from the Hlomela Campus were mentored by renowned South African chef, Lesego Semenya ‘Les DaChef’, who helped them cook traditional meals with a twist.
Semenya was invited by the Chief Executive Officer of Limpopo Tourism Agency (LTA), Nomasonto Ndlovu to assist the young trainees.
The occasion was in celebration of Heritage Month under the theme ‘Rural Development and Tourism’ hence the event was held in the rural area of Giyani. Some of the meals which were prepared included mopani worms, termites, morogo, dumpling prepared with maize meal, pap and many more.
Nkhensani Rikhotso was crowned the winner after her mopani worms took the cup for best test according to Semenya.
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The young chef will be featured in Les DaChef’s upcoming book and she also received an apron from the master chef and the sold out ‘Dijo’ book by Semenya.
Before the cookout the students took a tour and witnessed the salt making process done by a group of women at Baleni on the banks of the Klein Letaba River.
Afterwards they headed back to the camp where they cooked their various meals using fire, under the supervision of Semenya and their training manager Stephen Mathlabane.
Semenya has a Grande Diploma in Food and Wine and five other international diplomas in wine and patisserie making.
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He has worked as a personal chef for a renowned Irene family, catered for Howard Buffett (Warren Buffett’s son) and various South African celebrities.
Some of his accolades include representing the country in Russia in 2017 and in Kenya in 2019.
He also made the 2015 Mail&Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans list.
Ndlovu said she was happy with how the event turned out, because the students gained valuable skills and the food was delicious.
“More than anything, as LTA we are saying, come visit the province, you don’t have to go oversees or wait for tourists. As locals we must be the ones visiting our attractions.
