By Neo Kolane
At a tender age of eight, Tlatsetso Piet could imagine his future in the kitchen.
It all started some years ago when the young boy actually started to realise that he could help his mother in the kitchen due to the latter’s busy schedule.
Referring to himself as a ‘wonder boy’, Piet told theReporter that he is a simple young man who chose to centre his life around food. He then decided to study culinary and hospitality.
He explained that cooking “is just being able to mix different food stuffs to make different flavours” resulting in a production of exquisite eat.
“Even having to cook guided by a recipe, I believe that once one adds their own spices aside from the ones on the recipe, then one has created his own taste,” he suggests.
Piet remarked that he could hardly see anything to entice him to a particular profession before deciding to venture into studying culinary and hospitality.
But once he made up his mind to enter into the kitchen, he knew it was where he belonged. He felt a sense of relief for having now started entry into the hospitality industry.
Bearing in mind that the secondary and high school stages of studying would be difficult for him, he felt being foreign in a world of academics.
“I felt that further schooling (after primary) was just unbearable and I lost interest knowing that I would never make it to the university. That was not the place for me to be,” he recalls.
Regarding himself as an artist, Piet says that good food is just not all about good mixture, but also about the effect on the health aspects of the consumers. He believes that good nutrition helps grow healthy bodies, ending up in creating good minds.
Born in Masianokeng, about 10km south of Maseru city, Piet stated that most people are addicted to fast foods eateries.
“We do have restaurants in Lesotho and they are generally serving a variety of recipes. Personally, I prefer fine dining where my interest is high. More restaurants that offer fine dining need to be established in order to offer nutritious food,” he advised.
His favourite chef is Zola Nene who went into the hospitality after dropping out of university two years into Bachelor of Commerce -Law studies.
Piet has cooked a few dishes from Grilled tofu and vegetable stack served with basil pesto and balsamic vinegar caviar to Mini pita pockets stuffed with falafel, tzatziki and hummus.
