BlackOlive House x Noni Masombuka

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/170340852" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] An undervalued gem of Africa is her food. Throughout the continent, we have dishes made from the same basic ingredients of starches, vegetables, and meat, but in every country they appear on a plate differently. Food is also synonymous with feelings. With food we can transport ourselves back to our childhood holidays spent at granny's house or we can make ourselves feel better after a trying day in the real world. Whatever the case, food is life.Noni Masombuka, founder of BlackOlive House (BOH), wants Africa to "get excited about eating again" by creating a  healthy love relationship between people and food. She hails from Mpumalanga but is based out of Pretoria, South Africa. BlackOlive House started in May 2013 as a catering company operating out of Cape Town providing meals for Private Jet. Eventually, BOH moved on to food markets in Johannesburg after Noni Masombuka moved from the Cape; a new challenge that solidified an appreciation for food and the food industry. As someone who refers to exploring different places by saying "I am eating my way through the world", of course I had questions.Q: What would you say your cooking style is? 

A: I really enjoy African cuisine. My work in the aviation industry as a flight attendant afforded me the opportunity to travel, and through that I fell in love with West African cuisine especially. I like making foods that any person could find in their pantries and turn them into gourmet dishes.

Q: You mentioned having a love for aviation and that you still maintain a full time job in that industry, how does that affect your work with BOH? 

A: It's definitely not easy to maintain a full time job and also maintain the growth of a business at the same time. When I was catering for Private Jet, I knew that I was still involved with the aviation industry. Growing up, we're taught to focus on one thing, but I was fortunate to have a passion for both food and aviation. As time goes on, I know that there will come a point when I have to choose between the two, but right now I'm not ready to break that relationship.

Q: I can only imagine that your love for food started from a young age, and being a woman in Africa already has its own social expectations in regards to cooking. How did you manage to maintain your passion for food in your home? 

A: My dad is a great example of the "African man" stereotype. I know he ate more than just lamb and pap when I was growing, but cooking for him felt like all he wanted to see was a meat and a starch. Trying to find a creative footprint in such a space was difficult. Add to that I hate doing dishes; in fact I make a mess in the kitchen when I'm cooking. But I like to chalk that up to the fact that when I am cooking, I am cooking because I want to, not because I feel obliged, which also means I'm a lot more creative when I start cooking.

Q: As much as I would hate to be the one to clean up after you when you're feeling creative, when would you say you make your best dishes? 

A: Probably over the weekends when I'm still in my pajamas. On Saturday mornings, I like going to food markets to get the freshest ingredients that I can find. When I lock myself and my assistant in my apartment and I get to cooking, I feel like I can make anything in the world.

Q: You mentioned enjoying food markets, both as a vendor and as a consumer. What about markets do you love exactly? 

A: I love that instant gratification of providing something for a customer. There have been times when a customer asks me to make something with a specific ingredient. I get to think on my feet and literally make something totally new for that person, and seeing the look of satisfaction on one of my customers's faces was always a good motivator for me.

Q: What about your clients who aren't so liberal with their taste buds; how does that affect your creative process? 

A: Having clients that don't like food as much as I do is so difficult. Someone will literally ask me only for pap and tripe, when I know that they could do so much more with their menu selection. As a business person, you want to give them what they want, but as a creative you want to expose them to something you know they will like. Often times with food, people don't know what they want, so they stick to what they want. I work very hard to find a healthy balance between what the client asks for and what they may actually want.

Q: You have mentioned some very homey ingredients, is that the allure of BlackOlive House? 

A: Yes, I want people to be able to relate to my ingredients. I want them to think about how they can recreate good food with the ingredients they have at home. In South Africa I have noticed that we have a tendency to overcook our food. Whether it's boiling it too much or keeping things too long on the stove, all of the goodness and health associated with food is lost, and that's just sad. Like I said I love markets because of how fresh the food is, but also because there is a human interaction with your suppliers that make the process of preparing food even more enjoyable for me.

Q: From what you have mentioned, you have a passion for healthy eating as well as just food in general? How are you incorporating that into BOH now? 

A: Unhealthy eating is very unsettling given how much damage it does to people. There is a beauty behind food that I want to get people excited about, but at the same time I also want people to understand that making healthy food is not as difficult as it seems to be sometimes. I want to create a platform throughout Africa about good eating using BlackOlive House. I make good food that people can relate to, and I would love to undertake a meal prep business model under BOH to help people make better decisions with their food and also to take the stress off those who do not care much for cooking but still want to eat well. I don't have children, but BlackOlive is my baby; I only want the best for it and those who are exposed to it.

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