For Team Masakhane, the road to the Culinary World Cup is paved with long hours, relentless repetition and a simple ambition: to make South Africa proud.

The national junior culinary team will head to Luxembourg in November, where their young chefs will compete against some of the best teams in the world. Jor chef Farzana Alvarado, who oversees communications and women in culinary for the South African Chefs Association and Team Masakhane’s PR and marketing, however, the team represents something much bigger than a competition. “These young chefs are actually the future of culinary in South Africa,” she said.

Read more: 10 young South African chefs qualify for Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg

With chefs from different backgrounds, including four young black women, Alvarado sees the team as a reflection of South Africa’s diversity – and a sign that culinary careers are open to everyone. It is a future being built… One demanding training session at a time.

Chef Mahlomola Thame, Team Masakhane’s head of talent, said the team undergoes four-day training blocks every month, with sessions running from 07:30 to 17:00. The young chefs are deliberately placed in competition-style environments to prepare them for the six-hour pressure of the world cup. Timing, planning, precision and teamwork are drilled repeatedly, with the aim being to make the competition environment feel familiar long before they walk into the kitchen in Luxembourg. “You can’t do it alone. There must be a team,” Thame said.

For junior team member Callum Condi, the long hours have been among the toughest parts of the preparation – but also among the most rewarding. When something goes wrong, Condi said, the answer is not to panic. “We stick together as a team,” he said. “One team, one dream.”

That mentality has also changed how the young chefs approach their craft. Condi said his station set-up, hygiene and time management have all improved through the intensity of competition training. For fellow team member Lesedi Morudi, one particularly memorable mistake became a lesson in growth. While preparing an ice cream, Morudi left out some of the spices needed to achieve the intended flavour.

The coaches immediately noticed, but rather than allowing the mistake to define the moment, Morudi reflected on what had gone wrong, and used it to improve. “It was very vital for growth in general,” Morudi said.

Also read: Young chefs … Have you got what it takes?

That ability to recover is exactly what the coaches want to see. “When something doesn’t go completely to plan, you have to pivot,” Morudi said. “Recover quickly.” When the pressure of Luxembourg arrives, Morudi plans to keep one thing in mind: the plan. The coaches have taught the team to put everything on paper and follow it step by step, while constantly checking on one another.

For Condi, however, there will be something more personal on his mind when he walks into the competition kitchen. “Mom and dad,” he said. He wants to make them – and his country – proud. That pride is at the heart of what Team Masakhane represents to Alvarado.

South Africa will be competing alongside 85 teams from 55 countries, with about 2 000 chefs taking part. The competition provides an opportunity not only to chase gold, but to put South African flavours, indigenous ingredients and culinary creativity on the international stage. Alvarado believes the country’s culinary identity can grow through greater use of indigenous and heritage ingredients, both in restaurants and in culinary education.

For the young chefs of Team Masakhane, Luxembourg is therefore not simply about winning a medal; it is about proving what they can do, learning from the best in the world and carrying forward a culinary legacy that will eventually rest in their hands. “We’re going there for gold,” Thame said.

For a team that has spent months learning to work as one, the recipe is already taking shape.

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