Local culinary school celebrates Mandela Day in style

In honour of Nelson Mandela Day, students and staff from Capsicum Culinary Studio prepared soups made with love for the Anne Harding Cheshire Home.

The event took place at the studio’s premises where the chefs were joined by staff from Watson Marlow as they collaborated for a common goal: Making the day memorable for the people at the home.

“The team at Capsicum Culinary Studio believe in the spirit of Ubuntu, the spirit of family and that charity begins at home,” said Yogeshnee Moodley, the head of the campus.

“Since Anne Harding is close to our campus, we decided to tantalise their taste buds with soups made with love.”

The chefs prepared potatoes, butternut, vegetables, and other ingredients that were going to be used to prepare the soups beforehand. The staff from Watson Marlow were divided into three groups with each team preparing a different soup with the help of a chef assigned to them. The first team made potato soup, the second team made butternut soup, with the third team made chicken noodle soup.

Chef Jonathan did a kitchen safety talk with the people before everyone got started. The smell of roasted potatoes and butternut, chicken broth and noodles seasoned with different spices filled the room and could be smelled from a distance.

The music that played during the cooking made everyone share a little dance, lifting the moods of the chefs. Each team put their best cooking to the test as they competed against each other. Three judges, including Roodepoort Northside journalist Neliswa Sibiya, were selected to taste the food and crown the best soup. Team potato won the competition, with team butternut in second place.

As the day came to a close, everyone got to have a taste of each soup made and the rest was packaged to be delivered to the home. Everyone left with smiles on their faces and gracious hearts as they knew they had spent their 67 minutes giving back to those in need.