When Joyce Saiyoki, a chef at the Lake Kivu Serena Hotel, arrives at her place of work, the first job of the day is the mise en place — which includes checking on the quality of ingredients and ensuring they are fresh and ready to use.

Having a structured flow in the kitchen matters a lot in preparing incredible meals. And Saiyoki lives by this principle.  

As a chef, she also takes charge in directing the cooking of the day’s orders and also participates at some of the stations that need support depending on the orders. Whilst doing this, she also checks on the quality of the cooked food and garnishing before the meals are sent out with the waiters and waitresses.

Saiyoki has worked in the culinary industry for 23 years. / Photos Courtesy

Her job comes with demanding responsibilities but it’s her passion that enables her execute them seamlessly.

She loves cooking and because of this, she enjoys her job as a chef. 

From dream to reality 

Saiyoki says she has always had a passion for good food, ever since she was a little girl, that’s why she was always active in the kitchen from a young age helping her mother cook. 

Growing up on the outskirts of Maasai Mara in Kenya, she recalls being intrigued by the tourist vehicles that kept passing on the road leading to the park. It is this curiosity that led her to join the hospitality industry.

She went ahead and pursued this dream, doing professional courses in culinary arts. And when she landed a job with the Serena hotels way back in 1997, the 47-year-old knew she was on the right path to making her dream a reality.

Her instincts were right because it was at the hotel that she was developed as a chef using the hotel’s ‘in-house’ chefs training programme. This opened up portals of success for her career.

She has since worked in different countries climbing ranks from a commis chef, to Chef de Partie and now working as a chef.

This, she says, didn’t come easy but her determination enabled her to get where she is today.

"What I like most about my job is cooking and interacting with guests. I always solicit feedback directly from the diners,” she says.

When working, her main task is to ensure that she exceeds her guests’ expectation. 

"This is why my highest moments as a chef are when my team and I are able to prepare and serve high profile complex menus and exceed the expectations of our guests. And my lowest is when things get out of hand and we make too many mistakes in the kitchen and end up not meeting the guests’ expectations,” she reveals.

Her experience enables her to make different types of cuisines, but she says her best is the fusion cuisine.

"I love making fusion cuisine because I enjoy making use of locally available fresh produce and mixing them with international ingredients. This ensures that our guests have an experience of our local flavours, and also the dishes come out in a unique way! I particularly enjoy sauce making, which requires a specific texture and flavour and density.” 

This, she says, is one of the traits anyone who wants to be a great chef should have.

"To be a great chef, you need to be passionate about food and have the ability of using local ingredients to create world class dishes.” 

Moving to Rwanda

The chef reveals that she came to Rwanda twice in 2016 while on a task force assisting the Kigali Serena Hotel team during the World Economic Forum on Africa and also the 27th African Union Summit which was held in Kigali. 

It was then that she fell in love with the country. "I started dreaming of working in Rwanda and now I am delighted that my dreams have finally come true!”

She has also worked with Serena Safari Lodges in Kenya (Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge), Serena Beach Resort and Spa in Mombasa and also Dar es Salaam Serena Hotel.

Lessons learnt 

Cooking has traditionally been labelled a women’s role, however, professional female chefs are few compared to their male counterparts. Saiyoki, as the first in the country, believes it all goes down to personal choice and preferences.

"I think it’s a personal decision because as Chef Joyce, I believe and trust I can achieve whatever I purpose to.”

Her time on the job has been fulfilling, mostly because she is doing what she loves but also because of the valuable lessons that have come with the experience.

She says, "For the 23 years I have been in the industry, I have learnt that being successful as a chef and in life, you need to be focused, hardworking, innovative and have a high level of tolerance.”

She hopes for the culinary industry to keep getting better going by the current trends which, she says, are bringing together different cuisines and different cultural aspects of food.

Among her plans of expanding her career as a chef, Saiyoki dreams of being able to open up her own signature restaurant.

Why are professional kitchens still male-dominated?

If an archaic rhetoric that ‘women belong in the kitchen’ still exists, why is the culinary industry so male-dominated?

Saiyoki believes that there is a stereotype that men are more suitable for professional kitchens because they possess the skills, aptitude and resilience to survive the pressures and hardship of a commercial kitchen. 

"The reality of the situation is that there are many women in professional kitchens and there is ample culinary talent from men and women alike. Perhaps what happens is that women do not ‘grow’ as fast as men in leadership positions in the kitchen, and this may be due to various reasons, such as family. For example, trying to balance work and family — we tend to focus more on families — especially when our children are young and, therefore, need to have an employer that can understand our situation and accommodate requests for varied shifts to allow us to play this critical family role for a period of time!”

With this, she appreciates the fact that her employer has always been supportive during her growth path!

Saiyoki says that her personal belief is that she has to aspire for greatness, "never giving up on myself, my goals, or my dreams.”