chefs

"Aging is something that we all have to look forward to. It’s inevitable."

"Beauty is not really about the face. It’s really about you — how you see the world, how you give back and how to be kind. That is what beauty is to me."

"When you plant good seeds and maintain that attitude, when harvest time comes, people will actually respect your decision because you have been a good soldier to them."

"I love cooking not because I want to please or be flattered but because I love the people I am cooking for."

"I did not go to culinary schools nor do I have a cooking diploma. However, I learned close to the Elders how to fry an onion over low heat, because, as they would say, the slower and more delicate an onion is, as fried it turns golden brown, the more delicious the meal will be. I learned that at the end of the cooking process, all meals require patience and perseverance, when over a charcoal fire we wait for the remaining liquids of the food to be absorbed."

"But the fact remains that you can't fully appreciate Chinese gastronomy without sharing in the pleasures of the quite, the plain, the qingdan as well as the sweet and sour and spicy. Plain dishes are like the empty space that frames and highlights a work of art, They are the necessary corrective to the wild excitements of flavour, restoring physical balance and mental equanimity."

"Planning a good menu demands experience, a certain amount of knowledge and a good deal of thought. I'm only half-joking when I say that learning how to order well in Chinese restaurants is one of my life's proudest achievements."

"Like many Chinese people, particularly those of the older generation, she didn't show her love for me by hugging or soliciting emotional outpourings, but through food and fussing."

"You need to have a passion for this career for you to succeed and do the best."

"I believe I have delivered to the best of my ability."

"There are so many different cuisines in the different regions and in every culture of Africa, If you go to Limpopo National Park to see the big five (lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, and Cape buffalo) you’ll also find the biggest mangos and avocados you’ve ever seen, which all get exported to the rest of the world."

"It’s always been my goal and vision to take South African food to the world—what an amazing evening & incredible crowd of people to have in one room, definitely one for the books and a very proud moment!"

"The real challenge for the future is... how we feed people well and sustainably, and make money for everybody. There is enough"

"The most fun is when you're a small operation and you manage people's expectations... There's a joy there of being really clear about what it is that you're offering"

"You have two layers: you have all the people you're looking after and then you have all the customers coming... There's a joy but also an obligation and a commitment to this life. And ultimately it was quite exhausting! I sometimes had to go home salary-less in December..."

"To be a part of this cast was really amazing, because of the wealth of knowledge that was there, and the representation of different cultures was awesome"

"I came to business as a creative... As time went on I had to learn how to make business work, that wonderful trifecta of having your systems and your creativity and joy and love connect in some way..."

"Editing yourself is extremely important, to make sure that you're reminding yourself constantly that less is more"

"Spent a good two years researching about my life, upbringing, career and entrepreneur journey, and the case study was published and first lectured to their MBA students in November 2020, and is now part of Harvard Business School academic literature."

"Shoo! I would say it’s one of my biggest career highlights to grab the attention of the most sort after, prestigious and world-renowned university, Harvard."

"The flavours were rounded, the seasoning was on point and her dishes were so distinct and original. She has a near-unique ability to turn an idea into a plate of food without distorting her original vision, which is where I think her genius lies ( Lieutenant Gordon Ramsay of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay)"

"I’ll never forget the first time I ate at Core, lt was an emotional night. We’d brought some good friends with us, but I couldn’t focus on entertaining them – all I had in my mind was the journey Clare had been on, which I could follow through her food."

"I loved raising the bar every single day, pushing my team to get better and better with each challenge. Clare was one of the very few chefs who not only met that bar but soared right past it and came back asking for more. It was her hunger that set her apart"

"This woman is relentless, and in that pursuit of perfection, the exciting thing about Clare’s demeanour is that she carries no passengers – she has a drive that cannot be bought or taught. But more than this, she has an understanding of finesse and style like few others; she cooks with attitude and personality, and that’s rarer than you’d think."

"It wasn’t for everyone, but I knew it was for me, because I wanted to be the best, and I refused to let anything distract me from that aim. Gordon was, and still is, a brilliant mentor. He was always fair, even if he was very blunt about it – he just wanted perfection."

"We stood for military discipline and surgical precision in everything that we did, and if you slipped from those standards, you were gone – and somebody else would be waiting to take your job. Kitchen life was testosterone-fuelled, with dozens of chefs jostling for Gordon’s attention."

"And just staying focused and cooking my food. Those are the things I took with me."

"... but I think few understand just what it takes to run a restaurant, keep a restaurant and look after 20 staff when you don't know what you're looking at... The conviviality of The Kitchen - I just knew it wasn't going to be the same again."

"Everyone gets to enjoy our cuisine but needs to celebrate it a little more. I hope to introduce the cuisine of my home more by doing residencies and pop-ups like this. The best thing about African cuisine is the people who make it and the stories behind them."

""I think I’ve seen that cooking is a way of giving love and affection and expressing ourselves. I understood that at a young age"."

""Of course, it feels great to be awarded, but a kitchen is a universe"."

""What means the most to me is that the efforts of so many people, who work many hours and long days, have now been recognized. After more than a decade of dedication, it gives our team a nice push to keep going"."

"My number one goal has always been to make our guests happy by offering them simple food based in Mexican ingredients"

""We try to be pure and respect the ingredients as much as possible, while always offering loads of pleasure"."

"The more we use different ingredients, people will be more familiar with them"

""And in our approach, the ingredients always shine, with the end flavor always the most important goal"."

""My hope is that all my dishes are balanced. I want people, and their stomachs, to feel good when they eat my food"."

""The menu is based on the timeline and the ingredients that nature gives us. Right now, for example, we have a Manila mango dish that has a short shelf life"."

""When I was training, the truth was that I was often the only woman in the kitchen and the women were almost always in the desserts"."

""With time comes pleasure: the pleasure of creating but also upholding the legacy that’s been passed down to me".i was lucky it got passed down to me"

"I was very lucky that my father and my mother told me that we eat not only to live but also for pleasure"

""Growing up, I was taught that cuisine is something serious and very precise. But more than that, I was also told that cuisine is source of enjoyment"."

""The perfect meal is about the osmosis between aroma, taste, service, decoration and design, tableware, place and the people that share the moment with you"."

""I have always thought that my food appeals more strongly to women than men"."

""I believe that although my cuisine has powerful flavours, it remains sensitive and delicate – qualities that make it quite feminine in many ways"."

""My cuisine is very delicate and I’m a complete perfectionist, so these tools become an extension of my hand, allowing me to be much more precise"."

"I feel i started a trend or like I am pretty much a trailblazer because only a trailblazer will start something and other people will want to do it."

"Pushing through that means I can conquer things in this life."

"Taking up the challenge has helped shed a positive light on the (culinary) industry."

"When you are doing what you love, it doesn’t feel like work."