The Rebel Cook's healthier alternatives excite foodies
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday September 21, 2018 14:52
The Rebel Cook, a catering and events management company founded by Refilwe Keabilwe has come to the rescue of many Batswana who find eating healthy boring and distasteful.
The company has decided to bring something new in the culinary industry as they decided to move from their comfort zone and treat their clients with healthy, yet scrumptious salads.
In an interview with the young, energetic and vibrant Keabilwe, she told this publication that her business was established in 2004 when she was still a student. By then she was in Form 6. The business evolved from her passion for good food. Unlike many chefs, Keabilwe is self-taught. She said the business started as an experiment, which entailed fiddling with food morsels. “I taught myself how to play with fresh foods and how to combine the flavours. My food for the last couple of years has taken a more healthier and colourful route.
“Early this year, I structured my weight loss journey. Starting that journey, I figured that I always make myself very nice crunchy healthy fresh salads at home.
“I then decided, why don’t I take it to the people because normally we provide meals for corporates, which is a buffet setup or platter service. I then decided to bottle these goodies,” she said.
She explained that ever since she started advertising her food on social media, she has received an overwhelming response from the public, more especially those that have been looking for healthier alternatives.
She added that the comfort she gave her clients was that she delivered them fresh on the day. She said all the preparations and cooking are done on the day of delivery. She takes pride in giving her clients the salads when they are still fresh. She explained that packaging her products in jars was a way of showing the public that nothing was boring when it came to eating good healthy foods. She said her intension was to make the food more appealing. Even though she is not a professional nutritionist, Keabilwe has the ability of putting together pretty descent healthy meals.
She uses the good fats like avocado and olive oils. She also uses lemon, garlic, and fresh herbs like parsley, dill and hazel, to mention a few. She also uses salt and black pepper as the base of her seasoning.
“Our salads range from prawns, tuna, chicken or beef strips, chicken or beef livers and bacon. We combine them with either pasta or salad leaves. Our clients have an option of going creamy or non-creamy. We also give our clients an opportunity to make their own meals.
We customise meals as well,” she said. She pointed out that their core services include outside and event catering.
She said they do a lot of private events from birthday parties to weddings, funerals and for whoever wants good food.
She pointed out that bottling was not costly as the salad was sold at P55. However, she pointed out that she was facing problems when it came to returning bottles.
She explained that in order to address this issue, she was looking into other packaging alternatives that won’t degrade the quality of the packaging she offers.