Kitchen central, by the sea

DELICIOUS: CHEF SAMANTHA TAIT THRIVES IN HER HOTEL JOB ON KZN'S SOUTH COAST

- Hein Kaiser

Chef Samantha Tait loves making beautiful, delicious food for wonderful people. It's a mantra that she has lived by for almost two decades, 14 of which she's spent catering for holidaymakers as executive chef at the boutique family hotel, Pumula Lodge on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast.

Tait's career didn't begin in the way you might expect for someone with a passion for what she does. "I was running a horse yard before I started in the hospitality industry," she said.

"I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I always knew that, somehow, I wanted to cook," she said.

Segueing to food was a drastic change, but once she stepped into a kitchen she never looked back. It's the result of toil in the kitchen that keeps her going, day after day, year after year.

Her early years in the industry took her to various kitchens, but it was her time working in a three-star Michelin restaurant overseas that really made an impact.

"That's where I saw real beauty in food," she said.

The experience of working with top-tier chefs sharpened her skills and instilled in her the importance of culinary artistry.