- Gondwana Cañon Park/ News



		News 2006News 23.06.06

Cañon Menu soon to sport Spaetzle - 23.06.06
“It really impressed me that everybody knows exactly what they have to do”, Kapenga says after her return. “There is no one who needs to be taught.” To further enhance her many years of experience, the longstanding chef has done a four-week working stint in the catering trade in southern Germany.

She spent two weeks with 'Partyservice Paiser' in Scherstetten and 10 days in the restaurant at the adventure pool near Passau in southern Germany. Both businesses are owned by catering entrepreneur Kurt Paiser. The intensive traineeship focused on inventiveness and visual appeal when making party titbits and snacks, as well as on the refined art of cooking and on organising work routines in the kitchen. In order to get the overall picture Theresia was given varying tasks. Among other things she made salads in the restaurant, arranged dishes on plates and helped at the buffet.

As a chef she was keen to add to her own repertoire, of course. She found traditional dishes like cabbage fritters and bread dumplings particularly interesting.

Proudly shows off traditional cabbage fritters: Theresia Kapenga with chef Ulrich Roßmeisl, proprietor Kurt Paiser and trainees Benjamin Riebandt and Michael Appelt (from left to right).
Photo: Verena Treischl, SZ Schwabmünchen.

“I am absolutely thrilled that I learnt how to make spaetzle and dumplings”, 38-year-old Theresia says all smiles and adds that she also developed a taste for gyros.

She even made headlines: the SZ Schwabmünchen newspaper interviewed the Namibian chef about the traineeship and published a feature and a picture - headline: ‘African woman knows how to make cabbage fritters’. The report does not fail to mention that Theresia’s hosts have learnt something from her, too – like keeping one’s calm instead of feeling stressed out so easily.

The traineeship became possible with the help of Claus Palm, a paper industry expert, who spent time at Cañon Lodge during his Namibia holiday in 2005. After chatting with Gondwana's Managing Director Mannfred Goldbeck one evening, Palm decided to support the training programme. He used his contacts in the catering trade in southern Germany and organised three traineeships - one for Theresia and another two for other employees. Air Namibia reduced the airfare. An anonymous donor paid for most of the ticket, the visa, insurance and spending money.

Theresia Kapenga on the tourist track in Germany - visiting the Castle of Neuschwanstein.

And what did Theresia Kapenga bring back from Germany? Recipes mostly! Guests at Cañon Lodge therefore should not be surprised if in future they detect specialities from southern Germany on the buffet. “I’ll make spaetzle every now and then”, Theresia announced, “because they will really be great with our venison dishes.”


		- More details on our training programme at - GDC/Gondwana Concept/Training - On the Paiser company at www.paiser.de