Name

  Gerard Van Staden

When I was a kid I wanted to be an Egyptologist

Website

  http://asara.co.za

  When I was a kid I wanted to be an Egyptologist

 When and where were you born?

  Zimbabwe

What was your first job in food?

  Chef trainee

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

  Egyptologist

What is your favorite thing about being a chef?

  The freedom of being creative

Did you have an “aha” moment when you knew you wanted to be a chef?

  Yes

Best advice you ever got?

  Make sure you have visual flavour on all you food

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?

  Mompani worms

Your favorite ingredient.

  Fish

The ingredient that turns you off the most.

  Mompani worms

Your favorite tool.

  Chefs knife

What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not cooking.

  Fishing

What would you like to do before you get too old to do it.

  I’d love to visit South America

Tell us a deep dark secret (doesn’t have to be food related).

  I hate people

How do you deal with the stress?

  Calmly

How did becoming a chef change your life, your direction.

  I could travel and experience different cultures …..this allowed me to be a lot wiser

Who would you like to meet?

  Marco Pierre White

Who would you like to cook for?

  Michel Troisgross

What was the hardest thing for you to learn? Or is there something you just can’t get right?

  Making Macaroons

Is there some little something you do for your family to make up for the time you’re not with them?

  I cook comfort food for them

Please give us a cooking tip that people might not know like “adding a little bit of oil to butter so it doesn’t burn.

  Add your visual flavor just before you serve it

Tell us a funny story from the kitchen

I used to put whipped cream or mayonnaise into the ear part of the telephone and watch the other chefs reaction when they picked it up
One of the chefs promptly smashed the ear part into the entire phone