Sugar, spice and all things charitable
Maria Radcliffe
It was literally a sweet surprise for students when Chef Peter Gyorgyicsek – a Hungarian master pastry chef from Cofab and member of the South African National Culinary Team, recently visited the Academy pastry kitchen, with gadgets, silicone moulds and sugar in a multitude of colours.
Chef Peter spent a few hours with the students discussing the intricacies of creating a sugar show piece, all the while building a masterpiece from scratch.
It is not very often anyone is able to get a room full of enthusiastic students to be quiet, but for the briefest of moments there was a stunned silence as Chef Peter made the final finishing touches to his show piece.
Next on the bill was the long awaited arrival of the Bidwest World Chef’s Tour Against Hunger. Our students were on hand at OR Tambo International Airport to welcome culinary teams from all round the world.
The two very successful events at Hyde Park and Monte Casino respectively were aimed at raising as much money as possible for charity.
Through the preparation of many interesting culinary delights from all round the world and the sale of specially printed chefs hats to the public, the money kept rolling in.
Our second commis class was involved at both events, assisting the international chefs in the kitchens as well as with the sale of the hats. The exposure of our students to so many great chefs was an invaluable experience, with many of the students returning to the Academy with a new found respect for the industry.
The whole initiative managed to raise in excess of R8 million to feed underprivileged children throughout Africa – a truly worthy cause!!
With the arrival of spring it was time for the now annual CHS Junior Boerewors competition. The “Awsome Worsome” team of four students’s from Prue Leith, created a lightly spiced cheese wors. After two or three practice sessions our team did us proud, coming third overall in the competition.
Spring is in the air and food shows are the order of the day. The “Sari Kos celebrate Food & Wine show” was first up, with a ladies breakfast, wine tastings and food stalls in aid of raising money for the Pretoria school of Cerebral Palsy. Our students were on hand to assist with breakfast service as well as help with food demonstrations and wine tastings throughout the weekend.
Taste of Joburg another annual highlight once again saw some of our students helping in the kitchens of Johannesburg’s finest restaurants; this is their first real taste of “the industry”.
