We recently caught up with Chef Peter from the Sense of Taste Chef School in Maitland, Cape Town, and asked him a few questions about his partnership with SA Pork and producing meals for a good cause though his Sense of Taste Feeding Scheme.
How did this project come to fruition?
We have always been involved in charitable work, feeding abused women and children’s homes in Atlantis, including the Haven Night Shelter nearby. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we had to ensure that we could keep our doors open by being categorised as an essential service provider, and therefore expanded our feeding programme by providing much-needed meals to local communities close to our school. The Sense of Taste Chef School, together with SA Pork, initiated this additional feeding programme and we began cooking meals for our surrounding communities and have not stopped since, feeding around 1 800 people in need each week.
How does the scheme work?
We operate and fund this scheme ourselves. SA Pork contributes R3 000 worth of pork each week to ensure that at least one meal per week contains a meat protein. We don’t accept money, but prefer donations of food, produce, or ingredients from various suppliers on an ad hoc or continuous basis. We have also included this scheme as part of our young chefs’ training curriculum, to ensure that the students are actively involved to teach them about giving back to their communities as well as living the concept of social responsibility. It further upskills them, as they practice their knife skills and learn to produce in bulk, creating significant impact from very little. Most importantly, they learn to merge nutrition with compassion, which has become our motto!
What has been achieved to date?
We have proudly fed hungry people in need in our local communities for more than two-and-a-half years now with our ‘compassionate and nutritious food’ and will continue to do so as long as the Sense of Taste Chef School remains operating.
Finally, what are your plans moving forward?
Very simply, we plan to increase the number of people we feed from around 1 800 to 3 000 a week as soon as possible.
For 2023, SA Pork has committed to continue sponsoring pork to the value of R3250 per month to Chef Peter and his Sense of Taste Feeding Scheme.
Congratulations to Chef Peter, the Sense of Taste Feeding Scheme, and all the students that have been involved in the past and into the future.
Read more about other SA Pork: In-store tastings, live shows, and events in 2023.
