In partnership with Defy

Meet Boitumelo. She grew up in Mabopane, Pretoria, and was raised by strong women. Her grandmother introduced her to cooking because of her own love for food, and Boiti’s love was further ignited by watching Siba’s Table. Now, the kitchen has become her happy place. Her favourite dish to cook at home is what she calls the Seven Colours Sunday Meal, in which she uses many different herbs, vegetables and spice.

Boiti is currently working with the My Place Group at The Mussel Monger & Oyster Bar in Sea Point at Mojo Market. She loves working with mussels and oysters because prior to working there, she had little to no knowledge of shellfish. She also loves that they get to pair the meals with a variety of white wines, which she’s also being educated on. So that’s a bonus! Boiti would really like to be one of the top pastry chefs in the world someday and specialise in working with chocolate, but also obtain an international master’s degree at one of the best hotel schools in Switzerland. Her next internship placement will steer her in this direction but, in the meantime, she looks forward to getting busy in the new Eat Out kitchen, brought to you by Defy, later this year.

“I’m so excited to finally see our kitchen and to cook in it,” she says. “We will be the first people to use it, making us official pioneers of the Eat Out Food School/Defy Kitchen. This kitchen means the start of our careers, where we get to develop our skills and really shine. Some of us may even create our signature dishes!”