Daily Times

Cooking is a life skill that is never too late to learn, and in some moments, can feel borderline necessary, depending on your relationship with the concept of adulthood. Considering this fact, COTHM Pakistan added yet another feather in its hat by organizing first ever in house webcast in collaboration with a notable Austrian chef, Martin Kobald.

As the leading culinary institute in Pakistan, aspiring young chefs come to hone their skills at COTHM, which is internationally renowned for its quality and excellence in culinary education. The addition of webcast series with internationally acclaimed chefs is timely, as remote learning continues to gain momentum in this trying hour of pandemic.

Through this session, students acquired comprehensive knowledge by learning the essential techniques as well as the nutritional aspects needed to succeed in this industry.

Chef Martin Kobald found his culinary passion at young age growing up in Austria. He began his culinary career in his home country, after completing his training with outstanding achievement.

Martin Kobald honed and developed his food and beverage skills as he worked his way up from Trainee Chef to Chef de Partie, Sous Chef, and finally, Head of Operations at various Austrian hotels and restaurants.

Kobald honed and developed his food and beverage skills as he worked his way up from Trainee Chef to Chef de Partie, Sous Chef, and finally, Head of Operations at various Austrian hotels and restaurants. In 1988, Kobald immigrated to South Africa, were he was recruited as Chef de Partie at Southern Sun. He soon became Executive Head Chef for Holiday Inn Garden Court based at Southern Sun’s Head Office and was part of the team to manage the official opening of at least fourteen of the Holiday Inn Garden Courts nationwide. Following this, he was then appointed Executive Head Chef of the Johannesburg Sun Garden Court before becoming the Food & Beverage Project Manager for Southern Sun / Garden Court and the Sandton Holiday Inn Garden Court. In 1995 his entrepreneurial dream was realised when he established an Austrian delicatessen, Kobald’s Catering.

Kobald currently is the Convenor of the Bidvest World Chefs Tour Against Hunger organisation and together with over 260 Chefs from 45 countries raised a staggering R8 million. This achievement allows the organisation to feed over 5 000 children daily for a period of 5 years. The organisation received in the region of R30 million worth of national and international media coverage and still continues to do so.

Noteworthy, he belongs to a small group of conscientious chefs committed to expressing the land on which they work in the food that they prepare.

“His vision and creativity are incredible and he is capable of approaching things from a multitude of ways – from perspectives that most of us would never consider”, says a student while appreciating Chef Martin.

Kobald concluded the session by adding, “I am delighted to collaborate with one of the pioneer brands in the field of culinary studies. The demand for professionally trained chefs is growing rapidly and students can look forward to gaining more insights and hands-on internship opportunities from the experts at COTHM.”