Meet the chef who uses local produce to create world-class dishes
CHEFS around the world are using foraged ingredients to add exciting, fresh and eco-friendly flavours to their menus.
By searching for herbs, fruits, and roots from the wild, they create new and flavourful dishes. They also champion sustainable practices, indigenous produce, and a sense of adventure.
Ultimately, these foraging chefs bring diners closer to nature.
One such chef is Ukhonaye Mconi, a project planner at the Capsicum Culinary Studio’s Rosebank campus.
Mconi impressed foodies with his cooking demonstration at the recent Hostex Food and Drink and Hospitality Trade Expo, where he showed how to prepare his “Heritage Plate”.
He wowed the crowds with his sorghum ravioli stuffed with amasi ricotta and pumpkin, slow-cooked beef cheek cooked with milk stout, and cashew and pumpkin seed crumble, and deep-fried spinach with herb oil.
Mconi said that he wanted to highlight South African ingredients and incorporate his childhood food memories, but in a “cheffy” manner.
“We have so many amazing ingredients that we do not upgrade as trends come and go. For example, I have used sorghum before in order to make buns for burgers but never to make pasta.
“I wanted visitors to fully open their minds to the food being worldclass and using South African ingredients on world stages. Hopefully, audiences left Hostex with a myriad questions on what we eat, how we perceive local ingredients, and how we can use them to boost creativity and come up with top-notch dishes that will impress diners locally and on the international stage,” he said.
Mconi, who is from KwaNobuhle in Uitenhage (now Kariega), said he started cooking at age 10 after his mom told him he needed to learn because he came home from school before her and his dad.
That was probably the only day he saw it as a chore, because it seemed so hard. Little did he know that it would spark his passion for food.
After matriculating, Mconi went to Cape Town to study business principles and practice, and later joined the culinary school. Early in his career, he worked in the US for almost a year and, while he was abroad, his approach to food and cooking changed.
“Prior to travelling and working overseas, I had a very traditional, methodical approach to dishes I made. The colours, the flavours, everything had to be a certain way all the time. I was not very creative, and playing it safe does not give you satisfaction.
“When I was in the US, I received a lot of requests for South African food. The curiosity people had and their zeal to explore really encouraged and inspired me.
“I made the popular Xhosa dish
umphokoqo (crumbly mealie meal), but because they do not have ‘amasi’, I made it with a mixture of buttermilk and sour cream. I will never forget their faces after trying it; they really enjoyed it,” said Mconi.
Why it is so important to use local produce to create gourmet meals?
He explained: “Local is who I am and who I will always be. Africa is in our DNA wherever we live. I would love for all people to unite around our meals and produce, just like how we are excited by our Western ingredients and experiences.”
Mconi hopes to share his recipes with the world as “something food lovers can keep and place in their homes”.