Real Africa is very proud to be financially supporting the Karen Blixen Hospitality School based at one of our favourite safari destinations in Kenya, the Karen Blixen Camp. The Hospitality School is a new venture set up last year in 2012 so that the camp can help fund local community projects in an area where youth unemployment is extremely high. Local Masai teens are often forced to leave home and seek work elsewhere. The new hospitality school is somewhere the local youngsters can learn various skills to work in the hospitality industry which is one of Kenya’s key growth areas. Last week Rob wrote about his recent trip to Kenya and his visit to the school to see first hand how the work was progressing. This week we are starting a regular slot where Rune Eriksen, the Danish Chef and Head teacher, will be filling us in on the progress of this year’s intake. The 2012/2013 class consists of 5 boys and 3 girls who have spend the first week being introduced to the life of a chef.
Week 1 – Starting a new life as a professional chef
This is a truly big week for our new students as they leave home and settle into life at the school. The first day started with the enrollment of our students in the boarding house. Once they had unpacked and settled into their new room, they were welcomed by the Camp Manager, Frederik. He then took the students for a guided tour around the Karen Blixen Camp and told them all about how it operates, what the visitors are like and general information about the day to day life of a safari camp.
The next step was to introduce the students to their training materials for the term and to run through the basic subjects for a chef. From the very beginning, they were taught to say “Yes, Chef” when replying to the teacher, clear communication is a vital skill in the kitchen. The next couple of days were spent with the new students learning about what cutting board to choose for which ingredient, how they must wash their hands every time they enter the kitchen or change work task and why they only wear their uniform in the kitchen. They also very briefly learnt about contamination and bacteria another essential lesson in the kitchen. Beside hygiene, the students were taught all about knife skills. How they hold a knife, cut with it, carry it from A to B. Rune showed them the different types of knifes and told them about which does what and how they are all used in a professional kitchen. He was amused to see that they were all stunned by the amount of knifes a chef could use for the daily job. I think most of us (unless we are Masterchef addicts) would be too! Cleaning is another huge and very vital topic and the students spent a great deal learning about how to clean. Rune hopes his students will be able to clean the kitchen by themselves by end of these first few weeks. Cleanliness and hygiene are the very first topics to learn and a good foundation for any would-be chef.
Then it was onto their first attempt trying to cook a dish! For a local person this can be quite an adventure as the local diet is so different from a western diet aimed at visiting tourists. The students started with a good old leek and potato soup. Rune was very impressed with their attempts and the way they took the job so seriously and used their new found skills. He was also impressed as most of them lacked any kind of basic cooking knowledge and their soups were really very good. Well done!
Posted by Ruth Bolton
