My informal training and experience as cook/chef started in the extensive library (over 2000 cookbooks) and experimental and flamboyant kitchen of Braam Kruger aka Kitchenboy, in the Nineties. Although I am trained and was at that time running my practice as fulltime complementary health and Massage Therapist, an exotic, sensuous and alluring world was introduced to my palate and the culinary muse touched my life, instilling curiosity and encouraging me to know, to learn ,to experience the myriad cuisines of the world. That is, not only by savoring it on my plate. No! to actually delight in the entire process of eating i.e.- selecting the freshest, best quality ingredients, leaning over the pots, shaking the wok, searing the tuna, deboning the chicken, discovering weird and wonderful new tastes, especially from the plethora of South-East Asian and Chinese culinary traditions.
Thus I embarked on many culinary travel adventures albeit vicariously. I also did a hands-on training course in Macrobiotic cooking with Erica Maclean in 2001 and personally followed this way of eating and presently have much to say in its favor as a preventative and curative lifestyle regime.
The past ten years had offered many opportunities in expressing the love and knowledge of food and cooking. I mainly assist new restaurants when starting up in the design of the kitchen, the choice of menu, disseminating skills and knowledge by training the kitchen staff. And when doing catering for private functions or cooking for the Friday Night supper market, I would select menus and introduce tastes/ cuisine not necessarily known by people. For Instance the delightful Vietnamese spring rolls-cha gio, which is not fried but filled with the freshest salad ingredients, sprouts, dhania + mint herbs, five-spice chicken, or rice-wine marinated prawn or lovely Avo-toasted sesame and vermicelli mungbean noodles. These are traditionally served with pungent nuoc cham –(lime, fish sauce,chilli dipping sauce) and the fresh tastes combined with the salty bite of the sauce is a riveting taste sensation! And Healthy!
I approach cooking, the beauty and unlimited amount of ingredients, the amazing history of every national culture in the world, and the effect that food has from a holistic perspective. Eating is not perfunctory. It is not just about satisfying a hungry stomach. The total aspect of being is affected by what one eats and how it is prepared, and how it is enjoyed. Ayurveda, India’s yoga science of health and the Five Element system of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Macrobiotics, mostly support my choices in the kitchen. I would choose from the fascinating and myriad wonderful spices to achieve specific result: used correctly, spices can promote wellbeing, for instance Turmeric is a blood purifier, toasted cumin, fennel & mustard seeds make food lighter, fragrant cardamom helps neutralize fats and mucus-forming properties of dairy etc. In China one is invariably greeted with “Ni chi bao le ma? Translates as Have you eaten yet? Food gladdens the heart and sharing it with others is pure joy!Being given the abundant variety by the Supreme Being of Fruit, Vegetable, Spice, Herbs, Grain, Sea vegetable, land animal, sea animal + the many methods of cooking, baking, broiling, smoking, braising etc. feeds more than the tummy, feeds the Soul really!
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