“I wish I had more time to physically cook. I would be a much nicer person.”
Namibia has just finished the hosting of the African Culinary Cup 2015. A prestigious competition, that saw chefs from all over Africa jet into Namibia to compete to win the title of the best in Africa.
The Namibian Chefs Association hosted the event. 99FM’s MYD Art therefore, sat down with Sanet Prinsloo, the President of the Namibian Chefs Association to talk about cooking and how this creative endeavour is a great outlet for potentially destructive emotions such as anger.
This is what Sanet had to say about cooking, which she calls her “artistic and emotional outlet”.
“An empty plate is an empty canvas to a chef. Opening the fridge and pantry door is like pulling out your paints. Reading recipe books is like seeing views you would like to capture on a canvas. It gets the creative wheels turning and a chef can already imagine the taste they intend on marrying in a dish.”
Sanet goes on to explain that as chefs they are “taught not to mess with food and that can put a lid on a lot of creativity.” She notes that as a chef “You have make a flop dish from time to time in order to sort yourself out and learn from your mistakes.”
Sanet, an advocate for all things decadent and delicious says that “When I am sad or angry or upset about anything, the best cure is to get up very early on a weekend morning and to move into my kitchen, turn on some loud music, and lose myself in the creative motion of cooking.” She light heartedly adds that “I wish I had more time to physically cook. I would be a much nicer person.”
When asked why she doesn’t get to do more of the thing she loves, she explains that “At the moment I am just too busy to try and inspire young people through the Namibian Chef Association to realize their own creative abilities and strengths. I end up spending more time organizing for other people to cook than actually cooking myself, but it is also very fulfilling seeing youngsters rising to the occasion!!” Which is exactly what she does considering the many young people she has given a hope and future to through exposing them to the world of being a professional chef. She modestly adds that in saying this she realises that “I do love what I do and talking about it just made me realise that again.”