Ska Moteane: Chef from the Mountain Kingdom

Initially Ska wanted to study law but along the way she switched to cookery. His father admits that at first they were astonished at her drastic change in career path. “She was reading for a law degree at the University of Lesotho but she switched and went for the food sciences. In the beginning I was not convinced but I let her follow her own interests and I could see she was very passionate about it,” told Ska’s father.

Ska went on to study cookery in Johannesburg, South Africa and worked as a chef and a product development consultant. Her career was successful in South Africa but something tragic happened and Ska made her way back to her motherland. “When I lost my mother, that was the biggest blow I have ever felt in my life, it was really terrible,” she recalled.

After the loss of her mother she made a decision to not go back to South Africa. “I think her death enforced that feeling, for me to reconnect with my roots,” told Ska. Growing up, Ska loved her mother’s food. She avers that she was a great cook. Moving back home, she wanted to make such delicious meals that her mother made but she was shocked to realize there was no recipe book available for Lesotho’s traditional delicacies. She decided to come up with a recipe book.

To start off, she traversed the length and breadth of the mountainous region collecting all the traditional recipes that the people of Lesotho have. She got thirty different kinds of foods and was ready to compile the recipes. “In my lifetime I have never come across a recipe book for our traditional dishes and so when she came up with the idea, I thought it was a very brilliant one,” told Masenate Seeiso - Queen of Lesotho.

In 2010, she founded Motherland Guest House where she is the head chef and general manager. In 2012, ‘cuisine of the mountain kingdom’ was published. The book documented traditional Lesotho recipes that had never been documented anywhere and would otherwise be extinct in years to come. The book won the Best African Cookbook in the World Award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Paris, France. The judges praised the simplicity of the recipes and Ska’s appreciation of Lesotho food culture.
The book opened opportunities for Ska and the invites came flowing from all over.

“It changed my life, it opened doors for me. People started calling me, people wanted to interview,” told Ska. Together with her friends, Ska founded Flava Africa a charity that organizes food events that fundraise money for school agricultural programs, while promoting healthy eating and the use of local ingredients. Ska also makes different kinds of recipes at schools and talks about the importance of different kinds of foods while students watch on and some admire her work and would in future like to be a chef like her. At one such session, this is what the students had to say.

“I love buying from small farmers because I believe if I don’t support them and I don’t buy from them, their businesses are not going to be sustainable. The beautiful thing about buying from them is I can always visit them and see where the things are planted. For me that special bond of going and seeing ooh this is where it comes from is very special to me,” told Ska.

“Ska is known a lot in here about the work she’s doing, showing the products of Lesotho and the cuisines of Lesotho,” told Nthabeleng Makhetha – processing manager – Highlands Trout.

COMPANY