Cook
My name is Ben Orora 23 from Kenya currently living in Zurich & Lucerne, Zurich, Switzerland working and studying. Been able to surround myself with different cultures and gain additional language skills which included English, Swahili, Spanish, Swiss-German. My educational background did all my school life in Nairobi, Kenya after my high school I imminently ventured into culinary arts as it was part of my plans that I wanted to join the food world so I join an institution in Nairobi to take a diploma in culinary arts which was at International Hotel & Tourism Institute (IHTI) for the duration of 2 years it was there where I tried out each and every day different types of dishes from chines ,Italian, Thai ,mix of African and trying to play around with ingredients and fusion two countries foods. I also go to get more attached to my idols Gordon Ramsey and Marco Pierre white by always watching them on the reality tv shows of master chef and Hell’s kitchen learning how to handle pressure in the kitchen and on how to manage a kitchen bridge and handle different types of guests.
My second hotel to work still under internship was Hotel Royal Orchid azure Nairobi, Kenya by these time I was very much comfortable in working in the kitchen here I got to experience continental cuisines, Indian, and Chinese’s cuisines to these day I can say I have mastered the art in cooking them .learnt that the art of cooking need s time and patient in order to execute a perfect eye catching master piece and always be smiling while cooking during my stay at hotel Royal orchid azure I got the chance to work under to more influential chefs the first one been the executive chef Sandeep .words on encouragement he gave to me was that you should always try each day to learn something new even if it’s just one thing it will go in helping in the future. Took the advice and I would always try to cook something new at home with them family as my parents had given me the platform by providing me whatever I had wanted for my culinary journey .other chef a t the hotel goes by the name Jacob baya pastry chef that to these day I can say he knew I was destined to go place as he told me with the chefs I have worked with he also had the chance to work with them and if I went through them then I am in good hands to my culinary journey ,he was a humble chef always full of praise for the upcoming chefs and giving them the opportunity to shine I admired his hard work and the places he traveled around the worlds to get his experience and told me that I should follow his footsteps and try and get into contact with my foods and different cultures around the world
After two successful internships and class courses for two years I finally got my Diploma in culinary arts ,immediately following my graduation two major big hotel chains wanted me after my college had sent them my cv which included sarova hotels and intercontinental Nairobi grabbed the first chance to work for either hotel .Sarova was the first to call so I went for it after a successful interview which included cooking I managed to impress the executive chef Avraj marwa and was given a job as a comi chef in the fine dining restaurant Flame tree restaurant which is very popular for the best steaks and burgers in Nairobi as well as amazing mouthwatering foods with the likes of risotto, garlic shrimps ,herbed pesto calamari just to name a few worked at the hotel for 4 months and made a name for myself and also meeting up with other major prominent chefs at the hotel most famous been shailender singh whose a decorated chef whose worked all over the world and has had the chance to cook for the likes of George Bush, Bill Gates.
Currently I work as a chef intern at Hotel Ambassador l’a Opera in Zurich, Switzerland which have been able to contribute to mixing local swiss ingredients and infusion of African. I made the local Kenyan dish to a remix of swiss food, the local Kenya dishes which I introduce to Switzerland was “Ugali” which usually involved a simple preparation but I took it to the next level off stuffing the ugali with swiss chard (spinach) cheese, almonds ,orange zest and the fried it in oil. picture’s and videos can be seen on my social networks but I can sample a picture below.
I try to incorporate 1-2 African ingredient’s in the dishes I cook to give then that extra push of awesomeness for enjoyment!
Contribution
I plan to come back to Kenya in the near future to start up a restaurant which involves African fusion with swiss, Italian, French, Asian, Indian Kenya which all dishes will be served with a twist as used to their normal servings guests are used too. I will partner will local and foreign chefs to start up these projects.