UNILEVER – CHEF PINKY INTERVIEW

ADRIAN VIGUS-BROWN: CALLED TO CULINARY

A SAFE SPACE FOR WOMEN

Chef Linah Pinky Maruping shares her journey with #FairKitchens, Women in Culinary and more.

Chef Pinky Maruping needs no introduction. She is committed to the craft, and to supporting women chefs in South Africa. As Regional Customer Chef at Unilever Food Solutions, Chef Pinky is a leading voice in the #FairKitchens movement, advocating for mental health and wellness, and support of women chefs and restaurant professionals across the food and beverage sector. She shares her heart on these issues and more with SA Chef.

Firstly, tell us about the #FairKitchens movement.

#FairKitchens is a movement of chefs supporting chefs to inspire a new kitchen culture. Cooking is a language we are fluent in, and our passion for food is what makes the industry so great. So to keep the flame alive, we have proposed a kitchen culture that is more open than the one we have now.

As Unilever Food Solutions, we have a duty to take care of the future generation of chefs in South Africa – especially during these difficult times we are in.

Why is supporting staff an integral part of good kitchen culture?

The kitchen is an intense space. You work long hours, standing for a long time, there is a lot of loneliness because although there may be many people in the kitchen, when you go to work early, and leave work in the early hours of the morning so you have fairly restricted hours within to socialise – no one to talk to. The environment we work in is a very challenging one, especially when employees are not working in sync.

And now there is even more anxiety. People are unsettled and unsure about what will happen to their jobs, how they will feed their families, how do they deal with the new regulations and safety protocols…

How does the Women in Culinary Committee fit into the picture?

Well, I’ve been toying with the idea for a while now and about two years ago we finally managed to implement it. We got a committee together and Sarah Grey was appointed as the Chairperson of the Gauteng region. We’ve still got a long way to go because we need to launch this committee in all the provinces.

Women in Culinary is very close to my heart. As I was working in the industry, I never felt that the association was being inclusive when it comes to women. They do not understand the unique and sensitive issues we deal with in our lives and in the kitchen. So we launched Women in Culinary to create a safe space to deal with all of these issues. We have a Facebook group with over 4 000 members and that gives me goose bumps because I never even thought women would agree to this – but they did. We also have a WhatsApp group where people can connect and share their stories, advice about work problems, etc.

Who have you partnered with on wellness issues?

Women in Culinary have partnered with SADAG as well as POWA because we are not profressionals when it comes to this. But we are a resource that can point women in the right direction. Take for instance when a women is being sexually assaulted in the workplace. They don’t even know what the first thing is that they should do.

Are there enough female role models in the industry?

I think yes – and no. Funnily enough, this question was raised by one of our WIC committee members who said she does not have female role models. What we’ve done now is work with SA Chefs to start the process of interviewing these inspiring women who have gone ahead of us. I even got to interview my mentor Mrs Di Beadles. These women have a lot of wisdom to share and doing this is an amazing thing that makes a difference to a young woman out there.

CONTACT #FAIRKITCHENS