Sushmita Bezuidenhout, a 20-year-old with a deep passion for cooking, embarked on a journey to turn her culinary hobby into a career. Her path led her to Windhoek Hospitality Culinary College (WHCC), where she discovered her love for both savoury and baking. She particularly excelled in modules like bakery and breads, creating a range of delectable treats.

One standout moment in her culinary education was when she prepared a Chicken Galantine in the Garde Manger module, unveiling the secrets of this specialised field. Another memorable achievement was her final examination cake, a mini lemon cake with lemon curd, which wowed her instructors and earned her top marks.

“I started off at this college being a very shy girl, as time went by, I adjusted quite fast and the more modules we got, the more confident I became. I went from not knowing how to plate a dish properly to slowly getting to the place of understanding the whole concept of plating. For me, plating plays a big role because I believe in the saying ‘You eat with your eyes’,” she said.

Throughout her entire year of being a culinary arts student at WHCC, she can confidently say, based on how she started and where she is right now, she has learned a lot. She always had a strong point in the savory side when it comes to cooking, however, ever since she started with bakery and breads as a module She seemed to enjoy baking so much as a module on its own.

Her journey was not without its challenges, and she often felt overwhelmed by the demands of culinary school.

However, her unwavering faith and reliance on the Bible verse Philippians 4v13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, kept her going. She learned invaluable techniques, developed her creativity, and honed her plating skills, understanding that presentation plays a significant role in the culinary world.

“My most memorable dish has to be Chicken Galantine, which we made in a module called Garde Manger. Garde Manger was one of the most exciting modules I had throughout my first year, this is merely where I learnt what a Garde Manger chef does in the kitchen what his /her roles are and what sort of dishes they make. My second most memorable dish was in the module cakes and creams where I had to make a cake for my final examinations,” she said.

Lovisa Helao, a chef at Thuringer Hof Hotel in Windhoek became a child of Protea Hotels in 2019 when she was doing housekeeping at Furstenhof Hotel and moved to the kitchen as a kitchen cleaner.

In 2020, they were retrenched due to Covid-19, which placed financial strain on the companies, forcing many to restructure their businesses because of poor economic conditions in the world.

“I never lost hope after being retrenched, simply because I believe in myself and that was just a situation that was meant to happen,” she said.

Helao sometimes thanks Covid-19 even though it took her loved ones,  she says it opened so many doors for her and taught her a lot.

“During lockdown, I developed a love for cooking. I started baking cookies and pizzas to sell at home and made money,” she said.

Helao was privileged to be one of the people who received training at Windhoek Hospitality and Culinary College when it first opened in 2021.

She has been enjoying her new career since then.

Now, Helao is a content chef.