Cooking up coastal charm: Chef Samantha Tait’s recipe for joy

Chef Samantha Tait loves making beautiful, delicious food for wonderful people. This mantra has guided her for almost two decades, 14 of which she spent catering to holidaymakers as executive chef at the KwaZulu Natal South Coast boutique family hotel Pumula Beach Hotel.

Tait’s cheffing career didn’t begin in the way you might expect for someone with a passion for what she does. “I was running a horse yard before I started in the hospitality industry,” she said. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I always knew that somehow, I wanted to cook,” she said.

Segueing to food was a drastic change, but once she stepped into a kitchen, she said, she never looked back. It’s the result of toil in the kitchen that keeps her going, day after day, year after year.

There is beauty in food

Her early years in the industry took her to various kitchens, but it was her time working in a three-star Michelin restaurant overseas that made an impact. “That’s where I saw real beauty in food,” she shared. The experience of working with top-tier chefs sharpened her skills and instilled in her the importance of culinary artistry. It’s an ethos she carried with her from day one.

Pumula Beach Hotel, she said, is her career zenith.  It’s a family-owned hotel, she lives on the premises and enjoys the views and the ocean’s beauty daily. It’s something that she would not easily give up. “I found my rhythm here,” she said. 

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But Tait isn’t a typecast chef. There are no Gordon Ramsay-esque tantrums in her kitchen. “I’m strict to a point, but I don’t talk to my staff badly like some dramatic chefs do. They’re human beings, after all,” she shared. Tait prefers creating an environment of learning and growth.

“Some of my staff started with me from the bottom, washing dishes,” she said. Slowly but surely, she trained them, and today, many of them are her key team members. “It doesn’t always have to be someone with the credentials. If they’ve got a knack for something, you can build on that.”

It’s not Hell’s Kitchen at Tait’s cookery

“We work together as a group. There’s no ‘I’m over here, you’re over there kind of hierarchy,’” she said. It’s a sense of belonging that she said many other professional kitchens lack, and it’s what made her stay. “I didn’t want to leave after my first year on the job,” she said and added that the chance to mentor younger chefs has been one of the most satisfying aspects of the job.

Because Tait’s spent a large part of her career working from a single venue, it’s also been easy to spot culinary trends and adjust the food she serves and the menus she comes up with. Over the years, she’s seen a shift in the kinds of food people want, with a huge movement towards healthier eating.

“Veganism has really taken off,” Tait noted. “People want lighter, healthier, tastier options.” While she’s happy to cater to these trends, there’s a part of her that still holds a soft spot for the more traditional ingredients for dishes. “I still enjoy my eggs and my meats,” she said.

And while some dietary trends feel genuine, others don’t. “Some people are jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon without needing it,” she shared. “I just get a bit irritated when I see someone eat a chocolate cake after telling me they’re gluten-intolerant,” she said. 

All about healthy food today

But it’s all part of the job and as the busiest time of the year approaches, Tait is ramping up to the annual challenge. “Christmas is intense. We’re dealing with 200 people, three meals a day, for about nine weeks nonstop,” Tait said.

But it’s also the time she looks forward to the most. Many guests have come to the lodge for years, and Tait loves seeing familiar faces. “It’s like welcoming family back home. I’ve seen their kids grow up,” she said.

Chefs are on their feet for long hours every day and, as middle age approaches, Tait said that she is as enthusiastic about cheffing as she was at the beginning of her career. However, she admits that getting out of bed in the morning isn’t as easy as it used to be.

“It used to be a jump out of bed and go. Now, it’s a bit of a hobby,” she said but beyond the beauty of her environment, she loves the people. “I love seeing our team come together each day to get the job done. I would not have it any other way.”

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