Mohalenyane Phakela

THE Lesotho Chefs Association (LCA) is seeking sponsorship to fund its trip to a culinary competition in Ghana on 30 September 2019.

This follows the LCA’s recent participation in the HAAPI Festival from 2 to 9 September 2019 in Midrand, South Africa.

LCA president, Chef Donald Moletsane said they do their best in the competitions so as to gain international exposure adding that they are not deterred by the lack of support.

He said in Ghana they would contest against six other African countries. Local chefs are expected to present traditional dishes at the competition. However, Chef Donald said they are still trying to find sponsorship for the trip.

“The Ghana competition will be more of an exhibition of the participating countries’ cuisines,” Chef Dondald said.

“Besides preparing our traditional meals in a modern way, we are open to locally produced foods which we will also display there, for instance, we usually use locally produced trout in international competitions.

“The festival will also be broadcast on the Food Network Channel on DSTV which means great exposure for us. What we ask for is the financial support for the team’s transport so that we can go and represent the country well.”

In South Africa, the six member Lesotho team locked horns with 11 other African countries as well as Australia.

The delegation competed in Women in Culinary, Student Skills Challenge, Barbeque Challenge, coming second in all three. They also competed in the Nelson Mandela Challenge coming fourth and Mystery Junior Basket coming fifth.

“I was so proud of the team’s performance considering that we nearly failed to attend the competition due to lack of funds but then I ended up digging from my own pocket,” Chef Donald said.

“With that lack of support, we always tell ourselves that we have a point to prove in that we will not let our humble background affect our performance. Even when we lose, these competitions provide us with exposure and through them, we are able to create relations through which Lesotho students are able to get jobs in other countries.

“Our greatest challenge in South Africa was plating because here at home we are not exposed to different ingredients such as different types of meats and fish. These are ingredients we have to import and are expensive. We however, beat our competitors in presentation, flavour and nutritional value of our meals,” Chef Donald said.