Lydenburg chef’s innovation and passion earn him prestigious title

LYDENBURG – The cream of the crop recently participated in the annual Dullstroom Chef’s Cook-out and Leon Roelofse of Jam Jar Lounge was announced as overall winner of the prestigious event.

This fund-raiser was hosted by the Elipsy House in Dullstroom and chefs participating included all the big guns in the area from The Highlander, Walkersons, Dunkheld and Dunkheld Equestrian, Thandi’s Kitchen, Urban Hip, 1883 and Mrs Simpsons.

But who is Leon and where does his passion for food come from?

“I was originally in the book industry involved in marketing and selling and lived in Pretoria and Cape Town. My love of cooking started with one of the publisher’s books. To sell it you have to read it in order to know what’s in the book. I then started testing the recipes and could tell people that the recipe on that page really works!”

Leon is totally self-taught. He worked at the Chefs Warehouse in Cape Town, but mostly did the website, notes and book purchases. “I did everything except cooking for them!”

He says his passion and love of cooking just happened. “When I came back from Cape Town in May last year my sister and I just decided to start up Jam Jar Lounge and, well, someone had to prepare the food.”

Leon is responsible for the entire menu. “You have to break the mould. People get bored quick and you have to have some creativity when it comes to food. I am very fortunate to have a great team to work with.”

He loves to experiment and thinks that might have helped him win the competition. “If you were taught that something has to be prepared in a certain way, you won’t necessarily deviate from that. If you teach yourself, you become more creative and inquisitive.”

He said it was a team effort by Jam Jar and @Local Grocer. “The competition has been running for about 25 years. We had to cook a three-course meal for 12 people in two hours using only the ingredients from the blind box and a surprise ingredient: peanut butter. There were three meats you had to use which were chicken livers, chicken and mince. I went in with the idea of ‘keep it simple’.”

It surely paid off. Leon won most-innovative cheat, most innovative use of the mystery ingredient, best desert and overall winner.

“I was very nervous, it was daunting. Here you are surrounded by all these great chefs. I really didn’t expect it. It was a great experience and I enjoyed it very much. It’s weird how life pulls you in different directions. It has certainly been interesting…”