Samp And Soufflé

Exploring South Africa's Culinary Customs

By: Ingrid Kenmuir - Innwe Magazine November 2007

From smoorsnoek to saffron, pumpkin to pâté, bobotie to bisque; Samp and Soufflé offers ways to discover the art of cooking and eating, and explore the diversity and heritage of local food, with their custom culinary programmes.

culinary artsIn recent years, a solution to worrisome boardroom problems has emerged in the form of the culinary arts, where business relationships are increasingly being forged over chopping boards and paring knives, Formica countertops and hot stoves. Forget golf days, traditional **bosberaads** and bungee jumping, and welcome with open arms the exercise of cooking as the best means of team building.

A long line of stressed managing executives are waiting their turn to enrol themselves and colleagues in "reality" culinary cooking courses as a form of creative relaxation, and to better strengthen their working relationships. Samp & Soufflé, the brainchild of Cheryl Adamson, a long-term corporate businesswoman and a gourmet, offers such courses. According to Cheryl, the thought of cooking **bosberaads** struck her "like a bolt of lightning" while she sat through yet another out-of-town company brainstorming session. Looking around at the faces of her colleagues, Cheryl came to the realisation that this was **not** an effective way to inspire or motivate anyone.

There is a definite need in any company for team spirit and a shared goal, and employees need to be enthusiastic about pursuing this objective. In Cheryl's opinion, a workplace with an element of fun to keep spirits and energy levels up is crucial to productivity. "Relaxing, laughing and breaking down barriers is what makes management accessible," she says. "There is a new market category called wellness lifestyle, and if you aren't addressing that category you are going to find it increasingly hard to maintain staff," says Cheryl.

CreationIt dawned on Cheryl that, with cooking, the interaction between participants is not forced and the environment can be as competitive or relaxing as one wishes. "Modern management uses emails, in-house magazines and corporate TV," she says. "They all lack human contact. I really do believe in the alchemy of food creation and even if the recipes are the same, every team will produce a different result. The enjoyment of food is a very rewarding way for people to spend time together. By the same token, food has a life of its own. I believe you embody food with your vibrations, as many Indians believe, and if people who hate one another cook together, the food will tell the story. That is where the chef steps in to pull things right."

Since Samp & Soufflé's beginnings just over a year ago, epicurean events from the exotic to the health conscious have been requested, with themes varying according to demand. Events include weekends in the bush, where chefs coordinate interactive lunches and dinners using wild game and a favourite South African cooking method - braaing. Samp & Soufflé also attends several festivals, such as the Ficksburg Cherry Festival and the Franschhoek Champagne Festival, and organise tours of Groot Marico, where Herman Charles Bosman lived and loved, holding chilli workshops and hosting yet more interactive meals. Samp & Soufflé is also happy to tailor-make a weekend for a group of friends, working within their location, budget and themes.

Samp & SouffléThe idea for the culinary tours revolves around the outdoors, and the selection of appropriate farms, producers and people. A cook-in generally involves a gathering of management and staff, who are divided into teams and taken on an excursion to procure fresh produce from local markets. The group then returns to a venue, enjoys sundowners and then sets to work preparing a meal under the tutelage of a master chef. The main focus is on South African and ethnic food, and a typical menu could be fishoek curried snoek soup followed by banana and mutton bobotie with savoury samp, and honey and mustard mielies, finished off with koeksisters. The teams all prepare the same meal, after which the completed dishes are judged on presentation, taste and timing.

This venture has gathered such speed that Samp & Soufflé is now inundated with CEOs and their staff in Johannesburg and Cape Town, who seek to challenge each other over bubbling pots and sizzling saucepans. Says Cheryl, "When everybody is involved and motivated, success is a given. And there is no better way to let off steam than by chopping and stirring!"

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