One of the stand-out cooking demonstrations that took place at the recently held Hostex Food and Drink and Hospitality Trade Expo, was that of Chef Ukhonaye Mconi, who showed expo-goers how to prepare what he called his “Heritage Plate”.Mconi, who is currently a project planner at Capsicum Culinary Studio’s Rosebank campus, wowed the crowds with his sorghum ravioli stuffed with amasi ricotta and pumpkin, slow-cooked beef cheek cooked with milk stout and a cashew and pumpkin seed crumble and deep fried spinach with herb oil.Chatting after the show, Mconi said that he wanted his demo to highlight South African ingredients and incorporate his childhood food memories, but in a “cheffy” manner.

“We have so many amazing ingredients that we do not upgrade as trends come and go,” he said. “For example, I have used sorghum before in order make buns for burgers but never to make pasta.” So, what did Mconi hope visitors to Hostex took away with them after watching his demo? “I wanted visitors to fully open their minds on the food being world class and using South African ingredients on world stages. Hopefully audiences left Hostex with a myriad of questions on what we eat, how we perceive local ingredients and how we can use them to boost creativity and come up with top notch dishes that will impress diners both locally and on the international stage.” Early on in his career, Mconi worked in the US for almost a year, and it was while he was abroad that his approach to food and cooking changed.“Prior to travelling and working overseas, I had a very traditional, methodical approach to the dishes I made,” he says. “The colours, the flavours, everything had to be a certain way all the time. I wasn’t very creative and playing it safe doesn’t give you satisfaction.” That all changed when he started experimenting with different foods and incorporating South African ingredients into other countries’ dishes.

“When I was in the States, I received a lot of requests for South African food. The curiosity people had and their zeal to want to explore really encouraged and inspired me. I made the popular Xhosa dish umphokoqo (crumbly mielie meal), but because they don’t have amasi in the US, I made it with a mixture of buttermilk and sour cream. I will never forget their faces after trying it, they really enjoyed it.“Another thing travelling did for me is that it made me appreciate South African cooking more. Many of our chefs spend a lot of time slow cooking and making sure all the flavours develop. In the US, there are way too may shortcuts. I mean you can get a full chicken in a can! Open it up, pop it into the microwave and you have an instant, but very bland, meal.” Mconi says the one thing he admires and holds onto most in cheffing is originality. “When I was a student studying at Capsicum’s Cape Town campus, the first thing we were told in class is to forget everything we thought we knew and come with a fresh, open mind.