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Daily Maverick
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Maverick
New chefs' school aims to provide affordable and accessible culinary education
A new culinary school in KwaZulu-Natal is setting out to tackle skills shortages and offer economical education in a field where traditional chefs' schools tend to be beyond the reach of some aspirant students. Kayla-Ann Osborn, an award-winning South African chef from KwaZulu-Natal who made an impact on the South African culinary scene at an unusually young age, is making a carefully thought-out move to address the shortage of skilled culinary professionals and the high cost of education in the field. Osborn is launching Kayla Osborn Culinary School in her hometown of Pennington, KwaZulu-Natal, with its first intake scheduled for 2026. This new school is poised to provide a much-needed solution by offering affordable and accessible culinary education. She told TGIFood this week, when asked if her school would be more affordable for those who cannot afford most chefs' schools: 'Yes, we are much more competitive for a much more comprehensive education. The most important part is all the mandatory inservice training is done in my restaurants. So students are not at the mercy of bad inservice training establishments.' The cost is 'about R120,000' a year per student, Osborn said, and this includes accommodation on site and in a secure housing estate. The three-year course 'includes the trade test', she added. 'It's 300 metres from the restaurants and the accommodation is above the main teaching kitchen. As much as my focus has always been fine dining, moving into the world of owning businesses I've realised we need to be teaching skills that help students start small businesses from home. Because the reality is that not many students have the money to open a restaurant and if they do, they probably shouldn't.' Osborn added: 'There's a lot of focus on developing skills to build small businesses from home. [To] start stimulating the local economies without huge startup costs and to encourage artisan products into circulation.' Kayla-Ann Osborn is a celebrated figure in the culinary world, with a remarkable career that includes an impressive stint as Executive Chef at Delaire Graff in Stellenbosch. After honing her skills at 1000 Hills Chef School, she became Executive Chef at Chef's Table in 2017. She has since returned to her roots on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, where she owns and operates three successful restaurants in Pennington, including The Pennington Pantry, Kayla-Ann's restaurant, and The Italian Club. Her passion for the industry and her desire to give back are the driving forces behind this new venture. Osborn says: 'Culinary education is not just about cooking; it's about creating opportunities and empowering individuals to live their dreams.' The school's philosophy is built around a hands-on approach and mentorship from acclaimed South African chefs. Aspiring students can look forward to a comprehensive training experience that goes beyond the basics. The curriculum is designed to cover a wide range of skills, from fine dining techniques to wood-fired cooking. Kayla-Ann's programme emphasises artisan trades like cheese making, sourdough baking, and gelato production, ensuring students gain a diverse and practical skill set. The school will also offer training in a production kitchen and a commercial shelf product kitchen, preparing students for the real-world demands of the industry. The certified courses include a professional chef qualification, WSET Level 1 Award in Wines, Highfield Diplomas in various culinary areas, and even basic business and finance skills for those who dream of starting their own ventures. The launch of the school comes at a crucial time for South Africa, which faces a high unemployment rate and a limited number of trade schools. By creating opportunities in hospitality, the school aims to positively affect the industry as a whole. The school promises to tackle the barriers that many young, aspiring chefs face — the steep cost of quality education and the lack of accessible, certified training. Kayla Osborn Culinary School is dedicated to nurturing talent and providing the tools necessary for success, helping a new generation of chefs find their place in the culinary world. For those interested in applying, email a motivational letter and your contact details to [email protected]. The team will then schedule interviews to discuss your culinary aspirations. DM
Daily Maverick
21-05-2025
- General
- Daily Maverick
Rustic artichoke, red onion and blue cheese tart
The jars, bottles, tubs and boxed things on supermarket shelves can be used to make all sorts of delicious things. Even the freezer comes into play if you want to make this rustic tart – just grab a pack of that frozen puff pastry. Things in jars. They entice us from their snug little hideyholes on the shelves of our grand supermarkets, tempting us to pick them up and pay their price. One of my favourite meals to throw together in hardly any time at all is a rustic tart made of just those sorts of things. The advent of our excellent new newsletter, Baywatch, got me thinking about iBayi, Die Baai, Gqeberha, Port Elizabeth – all of those names are valid, but the way, and all are used by locals, often interchangeably – took my mind back to a visit to the city two years ago when I visited one of the new fancy Checkers stores for the first time. It has a prime spot at the Boardwalk Mall right across from the beachfront, and this is arguably one of the best-situated malls in the country. There were so many wonderful things in jars that I thought: why even bother to cook? But, always, I must cook, need to cook, have to cook, because, as you may know, I deliver a new recipe to you five days a week. And if you happen to live in the Friendly City (I'm not going to call it windy) and are new to Daily Maverick, you may like to know that there is an archive of every single recipe we have published since TGIFood was launched six-and-a-half years ago. You can find that archive here. And if you subscribe to Baywatch, my TGIFood or any other Daily Maverick newsletter (and they're all free), they will drop into your inbox regularly. Find all of our newsletter options here, including Baywatch and TGIFood. Just scroll down and click on the ones that interest you. For today's edition, let's dedicate this recipe to this city that I fell in love with 10 years ago when we first moved to Cradock, just a two-and-a-half-hour drive away. We've made regular jaunts to PE (we do still call it that, it's an old habit too hard to break, as a lot of locals tell me they find too) ever since, staying in a beachfront hotel and almost invariably going to Ocean Basket for a shared platter of lovely things. Oh and I never leave the city for the trek home without first driving down to the docks and buying fresh fish at Fisherman Fresh deli. On one occasion I bought fresh East Coast sole and cooked this. On another occasion I made this carpenter recipe, and when I occasionally buy Norwegian salmon there I'm likely to prepare this recipe. Anyway, here we are with this jar of globe artichokes in brine in my kitchen cupboard, and I thought about what I was going to do with them. I'd also bought blue cheese, soft and delicious (there's a great cheese section at that Checkers branch too). Oh and a pack of puff pastry, of course. Never apologise for using shop-bought puff pastry – even chefs of the ilk of Gordon Ramsay urge us to use that rather than spend half a day making our own puff pastry. This kind of rustic tart needs a few other things too: I used red onion, fresh rosemary, and cream and an egg beaten together. This savoury custard, as it were, brings everything together on top of the pastry. Tony's rustic artichoke, onion and blue cheese tart (Serves 4-6) Ingredients 1 x 400g packet of Today puff pastry, or similar 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 3 medium red onions, sliced 125 g globe artichokes in brine 100 g blue cheese, crumbled 2 eggs, beaten 80 ml cream 12 small rosemary sprigs Coarse sea salt and black pepper Method The pastry needs to be thoroughly thawed. Flour a working surface and roll out the pastry. Cut a 2.5 cm strip of pastry from each of the four ends. Squeeze this into a ball, then roll it into a long strip, the same length as the edge of pastry it was cut from, using your palms the way you would when rubbing them in icy weather. Just make it longer and longer until it stretches the full length. Grease a standard oven pan, the kind that comes with it when you buy a stove. Lift the pastry carefully and lay it on the greased pan. Beat one egg in a ramekin and brush some of the egg along each edge of the pastry, then lay each strip down and press down to glue it to the pastry underneath. Keep the remaining eggwash. Using a fork, prick the base many times, to encourage crisp cooking. Brush more egg over the tops of the edges you have rolled out – these will puff up when the pastry is cooked. Peel the onions and slice them into slim wedges. Sauté them in olive oil, just for a minute or two, to soften them and ignite their sweet flavour. Arrange them evenly on top of the pastry. Retain the olive oil in the pan. Drain the artichokes and slice them in half. Arrange them on the pastry base. Keep the brine to use in a creative way in something else; keep it in the fridge in its jar. (Such as a marinade or dressing.) Dot the blue cheese all over. Add a second egg to the beaten one, beat it well, and stir in the cream. Pour this evenly all over the tart. Drop the rosemary sprigs here and there. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper. Drizzle any remaining olive oil over. Bake in a 190°C oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden and flaky. But ovens differ – in my old gas oven it took 45 minutes. Most ovens will do the job quicker though. DM
