experience
You might order the same dish at different properties, or at the same property on a different day, and it’ll be unique, depending on who cooked it. Despite it being a new experience for our guests, there’s a sense of comfort and familiarity in the traditions we offer. You can feel it in the way food is prepared and presented. Here, people eat with their hands. They share. They spread their meal across plates. That’s what we’re connecting people to. It’s a delicate balance, trying to create an authentic dining experience while making sure it’s still accessible for our guests, but we must be proud of where we are, because guests come here to experience it fully.” On helping to build a legacy: “The Singita Community Culinary School (SCCS) is a big part of our world. Every year, eight students from the communities around us embark on an 18-month programme, where they gain the skills and experience needed to become professional chefs. Some have never seen a professional kitchen, but by the end of it, every graduate ends up working in our properties. And word is now getting out among these communities of what being a chef and SCCS graduate can mean for you, the places it can take you to, and we’re seeing a lot more interest in the programme. We started testing New African Cuisine at certain properties, like Mara River, which offers a more local and elemental experience, where
tilapia cooked on the fire and served with pilau rice makes sense, for example. For now, we source our ingredients from across the country, but the goal is to get to a point where we’re focusing more on those that grow in and around the Serengeti. And to work with guides, banakelis, and other front-of- house staff to weave food into the story and experience of each property. We’re mindful that our guests often move between them, and we want to offer a different food experience at each that captures and reflects its look and feel – and communicates the spirit of ‘chakula ni maisha’.” On returning to roots and earth: “New African Cuisine is about returning to the roots of who and where we are; making simple, natural food; keeping culture and tradition alive through food; empowering people through food; showing the world how incredible and diverse Africa is, through food. It isn’t about novelty, it’s about pride. About making people believe in where they come from and want to share it with the world. That’s the biggest validation for us. For our chefs, being able to share their mother’s or grandmother’s recipe with guests but elevating it to a world-class level is a unique privilege, and a challenge they’ve embraced fully; how to take what they know and balance it with quality and precision. But more importantly, it underscores to them that where they come from is worth celebrating, because it is.”
Right Swahili food is a confluence of African, Arab, Indian, and Portuguese influences.
Powered by FlippingBook