The Art in Food

Xoliswa "Cayenne" Khayiyana (31), is a Swati, Mbabane born, Big Bend raised private chef. He is the Food Engineer and he has been making his mark on the Eswatini and South African food industry. He is taking it by storm!
He grew up in a multi-cultural environment in Big Bend, and this came in handy for him later in his calling. He dropped out of university, when he was doing his final year at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in Human Resources to follow his calling in cooking.
He has worked (cooked for) in events, including Farai Foundation events, for cooperates, including UNDP, and weddings.


It is funny on how it all started though, he says "I was bored, broke and needed money, so I updated on my Facebook status that...anyone who is hungry, I will cook, and they will pay and some ladies replied, saying they have a hangover and they need some nice food. I went to cook for them, something as simple as beef stew, they enjoyed it and paid me E150. Word went around and I was making money. Two months down the line, I was out of UJ".
He says it wasn't easy and he regretted dropping out. He would do free lance jobs for free to get his name out there.

He never went to any kind of culinary school to be a private chef. He believes that real chefs don't go to school, just as long as you have a mother or grandmother who cooks, have some knowledge about food, be artistic with a little bit of science in it, then you will make a great chef.
"So, it all started when I was playing cricket with his cousin, Juice, it was time to eat and we were home alone, so my cousin "bullied" me to cook. I cooked, rice and minced meat, and it turned out to be good. The rest is history.

His highlights in his calling include cooking in Durban, Ezweni Lodge, where there were internationals, from different countries, including, Germans, Belgians, Indians, Brazilians, in which he had to prepare dishes for these different cultured people according to their normal dish at home, abroad and incorporate it with a local dish, which was challenging at first but turned out to be amazing, as they enjoyed it.

When I asked Cayenne where he sees himself in the next 5  years, he said that this is his first year of him seeing himself. He sees himself introducing a different kind of style of food in Eswatini. He sees himself training chefs, making them to come out of the comfort zone they are in. He adds that he sees himself running cooking classes, to train individuals to cook for their homes, mostly married people and those who are planning to get married soon because cooking is critical in marriages. On top of that, he sees himself running a restaurant.


As the Easters are approaching, I asked Xoliswa what he usually does during Easters and he said he goes to church and the Easters definitely mean something to him. He is committed to church as he is a Christian.

To round up the chat, he says that not everyone who is in the kitchen is a great cook, not everyone who can cook is a foodie. Some people are great cooks but not chefs.
Humility is key.

These are some recipes for the Easters by Cayenne.

Chicken Breast in Ani Seed Jalapeño

Serves 2

2x large chicken breasts

6x large potatoes

250g McCain mixed veggies

Fresh coriander

500ml plain yoghurt

150ml triple distilled vodka

Ani Seeds

4x Jalapeños

Salt and pepper

 Feta Crumble

Serves 2

1 large onion

100g cake flour

2 large eggs

2x danish feta

250g Mozzarella

1tbl spoon paprika

250g McCain mixed veggies

250g bread crumbs

Salt and pepper

German Porky with Biltong dust wedges

Serves 2

2x 300g Pork

6x large potatoes

Fresh Rosemary

Sweet chilli sauce

Cayenne pepper

200ml white wine

Rocket leaves

1pkt cherrie tomatoes

1x cucumber

Grounded biltong

Salt and pepper

Never ever have rules in the kitchen because you limit your creativity. 

                _Cayenne