The Grace of Babalwa
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Interview: Babalwa Nogoboka June 24, y THE GRACE OF BABALWA Africa's Digest March 2015 1 "I never thought of giving up, even when everything seemed against me." Despite adversity and cultural barriers this prominent Xhosa Chef lets nothing stand in her way. We all could learn a thing or two from the successful business owner of PattyPans, Babalwa Nogoboka. Dara Lewis (DL) I had the amazing opportunity to eat your food for the past couple days, please, tell me where did your inspiration to cook developed? Babalwa Nogoboka (BN) I grew up watching my grandmother cook, she was just exceptional! I remember her waking up as early as possible to prepare a nice warm meal for the family. I really DL You were preparing entire meals at the age of ten, I find that impressive. So you had lots of practical knowledge as well as cultural knowledge with cooking. Did you find it imperative to get a degree in culinary arts? BN I wanted to go to university, I knew it would help me with pursuing my dreams. At times it didn't seem possible though. My mother and father were not apart of my life, I only had my grandmother and when she passed DL Did you ever help your grandmother prepare the meals? BN Yes, all the time. In the Xhosa household the women must know how to cook. At a very young age I was peeling vegetables for her. By the time I was ten years old I was making meals for the whole household. In our culture, your extended family lives with you. So, I DL I'm sorry to hear that, what did you do then? BN I did what I had to do. I worked in my spare time...made enough money to move to East London, got accepted into Intech College. I then started working in the kitchen of a local hotel to pay my college fees. It was very hard. I never thought of giving up, even when everything seemed
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Transcript of The Grace of Babalwa
Interview: Babalwa Nogoboka May 3, y
THE GRACE OF BABALWA
Africa's Digest March 2015 1
"I never thought of giving up, even when everything seemed against me."
Despite adversity and cultural bar-riers this prominent Xhosa Chef lets nothing stand in her way. We all could learn a thing or two from the successful business owner of Patty-Pans, Babalwa Nogoboka.
Dara Lewis (DL) I had the amazing opportu-nity to eat your food for the past couple days, please, tell me where did your inspiration to cook developed?Babalwa Nogoboka (BN) I grew up watching my grandmother cook, she was just excep-tional! I remember her waking up as early as possible to prepare a nice warm meal for the family. I really enjoyed watching her prepare meals it was so effortlessly done. I wanted to be like that....just like her.DL Did you ever help your grandmother pre-pare the meals?BN Yes, all the time. In the Xhosa household the women must know how to cook. At a very young age I was peeling vegetables for her. By the time I was ten years old I was making meals for the whole household. In our culture, your extended family lives with you. So, I was mak-ing dinner for many people.
DL You were preparing entire meals at the age of ten, I find that impressive. So you had lots of practical knowledge as well as cultural knowledge with cooking. Did you find it im-perative to get a degree in culinary arts? BN I wanted to go to university, I knew it would help me with pursuing my dreams. At times it didn't seem possible though. My mother and father were not apart of my life, I only had my grandmother and when she passed away my life completely changed. I was young and emotionally devastated when she died. I had no one to help me with school, I didn't know what I was going to do.
DL I'm sorry to hear that, what did you do then?BN I did what I had to do. I worked in my spare time...made enough money to move to East London, got accepted into Intech Col-lege. I then started working in the kitchen of a local hotel to pay my college fees. It was very hard. I never thought of giving up, even when everything seemed against me. My grandmother's death made me very inde-pendent early in life,
Interview: Babalwa Nogoboka May 3, y
Africa's Digest March 2015 2
As she effortlessly juggles onions, Ba-balwa shows us how to have fun while working.
DL Although the reason why you became inde-pendent is not ideal, would you say that develop-ing that quality early in life has been beneficial? And how so?BN Greatly, I'll share this with you....I had a month left to work at the hotel, and that was my only source of income. Again I didn't know what I was going to do. My landlord who really appreci-ated my work ethic recommended me to a Ger-man couple looking to hire a chef for their 5 star restaurant. It was drive to succeed that my land-lord liked, I gained that through being indepen-dent. That was my first real job as a chef, and I was the head chef. DL I guess you never really know who's watch-ing! Now that you are an established chef, what do you find is one of the hardships you face?BN I would have to say the discrimination. As a woman in the chef industry, especially a black woman, it is very difficult at times. I am not al-ways taken seriously. I have to assert myself very often, even within my own culture. In South Africa if the woman is a chef she tends to be white. Many times you will see the face of a cooking company is white but the people in the kitchen are all black. That is partly why I de-cided to create PattyPans.
DL I know many women can relate to that statement, it can be difficult at times navigat-ing through male dominated fields. Tell me more about PattyPansBN Well, I wanted to go into business for my-self. I wanted to be able make my own rules. PattyPans, is fun, creative, and the meals have cultural significance. I'm able to experiment and step outside my boundaries as a chef be-cause of PattyPans.
FUN FACTS ON OUR FAVORITE CHEF:
Babalwa means The Grace of God
Why the name PattyPans? It's her all time favorite squash!
Ingredients to making a great chef: Passion and dedication
Favorite Chef besides her Grandmother: Gordon Ramsey
Spice she can't live without: ROSEMARY
In 5 years she will be: Running a huge global catering business with baking and a chocolatier bistro
