For chef Tsholofelo Matsietsa from Pampierstad in the Northern Cape, the food you put on the table should be an extension of your uniqueness and creativity. “I don’t like mediocrity at all. When I make food, it is a part of me, it is my creativity, and I am very sensitive about my creativity,” he says.
Matsietsa is a private chef and the founder of Tsholo First Class Enterprise, a bespoke culinary service that hosts food and beverage events, offers training, and events in the Northern Cape.
This outspoken chef credits his passion for food to his late grandmother, Masekgalo Angelina Matsietsa. He describes her as a stern woman who loved structure and order. He remembers how she would feed her 11 male grandchildren like they were an army in the barracks.
“Imagine cooking for 11 growing boys? It was a lot. She would make two pots of dumplings and you would wonder if she is feeding an army or just boys. Food was the one thing that connected us all, and when we ate, we would sit around her.
“When you grow up around such a strict woman you tend to be disciplined. You tend to love order in everything that you do, and I am like that. I take those lessons and showcase them in my food. When it comes to food, I am a bit of a perfectionist.”
Food journey inspired by creativity
Matsietsa’s aspirations to become a chef only took shape a little later in his life. Before he entered the professional kitchen, he studied land reform and rural development.
“I didn’t start off as a chef, I studied land reform and rural development. The office was never really my thing. I like to work with my hands, I like to get dirty, I like being on my feet, I do not like to sit down,” he says.
He obtained his culinary qualifications in professional cookery at the Mafikeng Hotel School in North West. “The school has produced a lot of international chefs. When it comes to work ethics, food presentation for me the school the best it has pushed chefs to their limits.”
He did his first in-service training at the Hilton Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg. He describes himself as a nomadic chef and has cooked in most corners of Mzansi.
“I have travelled the country to see and learn about the different foods that each province has on offer. Me being able to travel around and check out the whole food scene, I was able to realise that people always want something new when it comes to food.”
When it comes to the food you cook in your kitchen, do not be a square, he adds and challenges other cooks to colour outside of the plate. “If I make something, I must make sure that it blows your mind, you are supposed to feel my uniqueness in my food. It shouldn’t even taste like somebody else’s.”
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Relishing his food love
His fondest memories are filled with his late grandmother’s tomato relish. “It is one of the best relishes I have had in my life, and I can make it as well. She taught my mother, and my mother and her taught me how to make it.”
Matsietsa has plans to create his own sauce range inspired by his grandmother. “I have always loved cooking and I’ve always wanted to venture into sauce production.”
A major career highlight for a young chef Matsietsa was meeting the president of the World Chefs Association, Thomas Gugler, in Times Square in Pretoria.
He also recently competed in the Trove World Entertainment West African food competition in Cape Town hosted at the Grand Daddy Boutique Hotel and was placed second. “I was the only South African there. I felt a bit of pressure going against chefs from both West and Central Africa, so I had to bring my first-class game to the challenge. I felt a sense of pride being able to compete at such a level and making cuisine that was foreign to me.”
Go, little rockstar
Matsietsa’s advice to young chefs in the kitchen is simple: Do not give up, no matter how inadequate you feel in the professional kitchen. It is no place for the faint of heart.
“The culinary industry is cutthroat, one must have a certain mentality to work there,” he says with no hesitation.
“You need to have this thing about you or a spirit that says you will never give up. It is very challenging to be a professional chef.”
Understand that the world of restaurants and hotels are a different ball game he adds. If you keep your head down and soldier on though, you can improve your skills. “Keep practicing and learning the rules of the professional kitchen.”
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