Culinary team cooks their way to our hearts

Pastry chef and lecturer at the HTA Culinary School of Art, Minette Smith just returned from Erfurt, Germany alongside her team members, Henrico Grobbelaar, Dion Vengatass, Trevor Boyd, Blake Anderson, Kirstin Hellemann and Arno Ralph where they competed in the IKA Culinary Olympics.
Unfortunately, they were not able to win gold as that honour went to Singapore. South Africa, did, however, manage to receive a diploma for their culinary art display in the cold table category and a bronze medal in the hot kitchen category. This was out of 59 nations and 2 000 chefs taking part. The award ceremony was held on 26 October.
The hot kitchen category comprised a three-course meal served to 110 people. Randburg Sun had the opportunity to enjoy an exclusive media launch where the team introduced the proudly South African meal of Cape Malay curry crayfish, Sprinkbok loin, and a raspberry Hertzoggie dessert, which was made by Smith.
On 23 October the team worked through the night to prepare 92 individual items and coat them with a gelatin-like substance to preserve it for the cold table.
Smith described her experience as unforgettable, life-changing and stressful. “What a privilege to represent my country at this level.” She said that the temperature of the freezer in the hot kitchen on day two was a major challenge. “The temperature was not correct as there was a technical fault. It put me one-and-a-half hours behind schedule, and when you have only six hours to prepare a dessert for 110 people it could be a huge challenge.”
Despite the challenges, one highlight that stood out for Smith was the amount of passion and discipline that other teams competed with. She added that their headline sponsor travelled with the team to Erfurt. “Sponsor, Philip Meyer and his team were singing Shosholoza for us while we were under huge pressure in the hot kitchen competition,” she quipped.
Smith concluded that people should know that the preparation for this competition took four years. “We trained as hard as any Olympic athlete would.”
Results
Senior National teams:
Gold: Singapore
Silver: Finland
Bronze: Switzerland.
Junior National teams:
Gold: Sweden
Silver: Switzerland
Bronze: Norway.