Up until this moment, I thought I was a good cook until I met Steffi Metz Heinrich who challenged me and made me realize that even how one holds a knife in the kitchen is an art. Heinrich, a German national, prefers to not be referred to as a chef, she rather opts to be called a cook since her style is dynamic and involves innovation unlike that of a chef that is purely based on cookbooks. According to her, the first step to becoming a better cook is mastering the knife skills. From getting the right grip on the knife to cutting in precision, there’s even a particular sound it ought to make as you cut. But five minutes later, I had already given up. She’s probably right when she says that cooking well isn’t for everyone. It requires patience and for the biggest part, creativity. Something she says still lacks in Rwandan cuisine. In 2020, when Heinrich and her three children were on a quest to travel to different countries in Africa, their journey was cut short by Covid-19 restrictions. They had just landed in Rwanda, when the National lockdown was announced. Among other things, she and her children had to adjust to the type of food, which they found difficult. Heinrich's only way out of lockdown boredom while stuck at their temporary lodging in Kigali was to cook. Heinrich created a number of recipes, all of which she tried and recorded in her notebook. She wanted to share her food because she was cooking far more than she needed. She then decided to form a Whatsapp group with people she had met online and started delivering food to them. As her Whatsapp group, which included both locals and foreigners, increased in popularity, she recognized a potential business opportunity. At first, the plan was simply to share free food with friends. But as the number of people increased, I wondered if I couldn't turn it into a business, she explained. Heinrich then designed a catalog for her cuisine and started cooking and delivering on demand. People, mostly Rwandans, were appreciative of the change. Surprisingly, they were very open to trying new recipes made with ingredients they already grew up knowing, she said. She went ahead to re-create usual and original recipes for meals and snacks using local ingredients. There is nothing wrong with Rwandan cuisine. However, having different recipes, all made from the same common ingredients found at the local market, could make it a little more exciting, novel, and accommodating to people with different tastes, she noted. Heinrich is a German cook with 25 years of experience. Her father, a chef himself, taught her how to cook. She also took cooking classes at Star Restaurant in Hamburg to hone her skills, and cooking has since become her sole source of income. She is an international cook trainer and currently employed by Akagera National Park. Good food is an essential component of good hospitality. As Rwanda develops into a hospitality and tourism leader, visitors should have a variety of options to choose from, she added. Heinrich will soon begin offering event cooking classes to people interested in Kigali. A good cook, she believes, should have an encyclopedic knowledge of food, available ingredients, and seasonality of those ingredients. Even for me, her first student, all is not lost. I learned how to bake my favorite, 'Peta bread' with a 'tomato sauce' dip, as seen in the embedded video, from her catalog of over 50 recipes. Heinrich believes that a satisfying meal doesn't necessarily have to include meat, and a good drink doesn't have to contain alcohol. You are what you eat. It's a true joy to eat a well-balanced healthy meal and alternate what you eat so you don't get tired of it, she said.
