Food & Home Entertaining

act

In the heart of Cape Town’s CBD, on

the third floor of a stark building, a

remarkable culinary school inspires

young South Africans to rise above their

circumstances and reach new heights

BYNATALIE BORUVKAPHOTOGRAPHSSUPPLIED

A

remarkable concept, Infinity

Culinary Training (ICT) school

accepts up to 80 students

peryear–eachonafull

bursary.Since2009,ICThas

celebrated 434 graduates, of

which 80% are holding down

jobs and building careers.

The fact that ICT was co-founded by Barry Berman, an

Americanscreenwriter,who–byhisownadmission–

was wholly unqualified to pursue such a venture,

makes the school’s story all the more extraordinary.

In2009,ononeofBarry’svisitstoSouthAfrica,he

struckupaconversationwithafriend.“Webothfelt

strongly about the dire unemployment situation in SA,

andthat’swhenwecameupwiththeideaofstarting

a cooking school that would train people from the

townships,” he remembers. After receiving a donation

from the Gavin Relly Educational Trust, and rustling

up 11 students, the school was started in a refugee

building in Cape Town’s District Six. Even though the

firstclasswasasuccess,Barryrecallsthathedidn’t

have any grand plans for the school. “For me, it was a

wayoflearningmoreabouttheSouthAfricanculture,”

he says candidly.

Afterthethirdclass,difficultiesarosethat seemed

destined to end the school. “At that point, I wrote

emails thanking every person who had been

involved; but I couldn’t bring myself to hit the send

button. I knew the school had to carry on,” he shares.

“Today, prospective students must complete a

questionnaire after which every applicant is invited

to an interview. No one is turned away because of

a lack of education or skill; instead, what is required

of each candidate is the desire to try something new

and embrace that with confidence,” Barry continues.

The 24-week full-time course is held four times per

year. The first eight weeks comprise intense kitchen

practice and theory classes during which students

are prepared for the challenges of working in a

professional kitchen. “Many of our students are dealing

with the personal shame of failure, but we teach them

thatmakingamistakeisablessing–it offers the

opportunity to fix that mistake,” Barry says.

After the initial eight weeks, students fulfil a four-

week unpaid internship at a Cape Town-based hotel

or restaurant before completing 12 weeks of paid

employment. The school assists with the placements,

and its formidable reputation means its students are

highly sought after.

It is such a momentous event, then, that the school

is celebrating its 10th anniversary as well as its 500th

graduate in September this year. “I’ve discovered that

it’s never too late to make a change, and that – even

intheplaceofthedeepestdespair–lays the

opportunity to make a difference,” Barry concludes.

HOWYOUCANHELP

Donations and tuition sponsorships are welcome and

canbe made out to:

Infinity Culinary Training

Standard Bank

Account number: 071054227

Branch code: 051001

34 ADDERLEY STREET, THIRD FLOOR, CAPE TOWN; [email protected]; ICTCHEFS.ORG

ACLASS

LEFT AND RIGHT: ICT STUDENTS PLATING FOOD DURING LESSONS

AT THE SCHOOL. CENTRE: ICT TEACHERS YONELA MBOMBO AND

ZANELE MDOKWANA, ICT CO-FOUNDER, BARRY BERMAN, AND

TEACHERS NOLUSINDISO ROSI AND NCEBA NYOKA

ORGANISATION OF THE MONTH