Pastry chef Lalana Santana Pillay is looking to make her mark in the industry
Being a chef is more than just cooking and serving food. The culinary arts extends beyond hunger, it is art and science combined.
While superstar chefs who receive worldwide recognition are few and far between, fame is really not what most chefs are aiming for.
Creating innovative, creative and good food is what it is all about, and that is the mantra of chef Lalana Santana Pillay.
Santana Pillay is a young chef who is looking to make waves in the culinary world.
The first time I got to know about her was in 2023 after she won big at the 2023 RCL Foods Young Chef & Baker Challenge held in Umhlanga, Durban.
Speaking to Independent Media Lifestyle, the 21-year-old from Verulam said: “I was beyond excited, I was also very shocked because as much as I was confident in our dishes, the other teams made incredible dishes as well.
“After all our hard work, hearing our names for second place was a dream come true.”
Pillay said her passion for making delicious and beautiful dishes was inspired by the reality television programmes, ‘MasterChef’ and ‘Come Dine with Me’.
“I would say that my love for food started when I was much younger and I enjoyed watching ‘MasterChef’ and ‘Come Dine with Me’. I enjoy eating food so I decided to be a chef to create food that I love and think other people would love as well.”
Her journey to creating those dishes began in 2021. After matric, Pillay enrolled for a culinary course at Durban’s Capsicum Culinary School.
She did a three-year course in the Advanced Professional Chef Programme, which covered all major theoretical, practical and workplace components of kitchen operations, culinary practice, and patisserie skill elements.
“I finished my three-year course in June and I am currently in the process of starting my own small business.
“I love that I can be creative in making desserts, experimenting with new ingredients, and making food that I am proud of and love,” she said.
She said the inspiration for her dishes came from online trends as well as her own creative thoughts - she always imagines what she wants to make and how it would taste and look
Her greatest triumph as a young chef came when she and her partner, Ammaara Sulaiman, were chosen as the runner-up team in the 2023 RCL Foods Young Chef & Baker Challenge competition.
Her advice to other young chefs is: “Go for it and be determined; don’t let anything stop you from doing what you love. Being a chef is hard work and you need to be willing to make sacrifices with the long hours and do your best because people will remember you if you try hard enough.”
As someone who likes home-cooked pasta and experimenting with her favourite ingredients, eggs, butter, and flour, mainly because she is a pastry chef, Santana Pillay said her goal was to learn as much as possible from other chefs and to be a creative and successful chef people would forever remember.