My Introduction to Foodies Bee Hive Community: My year of Food – SA Chef’s Academy!

Hello everybody at the Foodies Bee Hive Community! My name is Julia and I call myself "Blogging for Birdseed!" I am writing to you from Cape Town in South Africa!

2011 was a whirlwind year for me. Everything about myself turned inside out and upside down. I ran away from everything I knew in the working world and threw myself into another profession. All my Chef friends warned me not to do it, but cooking school called to me like a siren of the sea, and helplessly I followed. I signed up at the SA Chef’s Academy for the following year!

(Food prepared and photographs taken by me)

2012 started in a flurry of knives and Chef’s whites. My fellow students were a beautiful mixture of young, just-out-of-school kids, and more mature students following their dreams and passions like me.

Classes consisted of food theory, pastry, bread making and hot kitchen classes. The words “Yes Chef!” become our mantra. Every day was a delicious adventure.

Highlights included creating my own bread starter - "Freddie" the living, breathing culture lived in my fridge. He failed to make bread rise but was still a cherished member of the family. I played with so much chocolate that year, they gave me an award for best sweet tooth and chocolate moves (I still use the stick blender I was given once a week). I met my wonderful lifelong friend Leigh - she was the fastest onion chopper this side of the globe, and even though neither of us are no longer in the food industry I’ll be forever grateful for the skills we learnt and friendship we forged.

Now, ten years later, I hope to share my love of food and cooking with all of you at Foodies Bee Hive!