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Pork belly, mustard mash, the freshest vegetables, a fennel jus I’d happily order again tomorrow. The kind of lunch that, had it been served to me in an expensive restaurant with crisp linen and someone topping up my water every few minutes, I would have been none the wiser.
But this meal wasn’t made in a restaurant.
It was prepared for me by the Year 4 learners at EduStreams in Midrand, a nonprofit school for students who learn differently. And as good as the food was, and it really was that good, the story behind it is what stayed with me most.
EduStreams was founded by Wendy Roux in 2022, born out of the very personal need to find the right educational environment for her own child. As a new dad, I feel stories like this differently now. You understand, in a much deeper way, what a parent will do when their child needs something the world is not giving them.
Their motto is “No Child Left Behind”, and walking through the school with Head of School Alan Nambiar, a lifelong educator with a background in psychology, you can feel that this is not just a line on a wall. It is the whole point of the place.
In the gardens, learners are gaining agricultural skills, with much of what they grow finding its way into the kitchen. In the woodworking area, they make pieces that can be sold to raise money for the school. In the arts centre, you see young people light up because they have been given a way to show what they can do.
And then there is the kitchen.
The cooking programme is led by Chef Simone Tiffany Harris, whose passion and brilliance deserve to be celebrated loudly. Under her guidance, the learners prepared a meal with real confidence and care. Japanese milk bread with confit garlic, whipped feta and caramelised onion butter. A bistro-style leek and fennel soup. Pork belly slowly braised in fennel and onion, with wholegrain mustard mash, orange-glazed carrots, charred tenderstem broccoli and fennel jus. Then panna cotta with miso sesame crumble and passionfruit vanilla compote.
This was not “school food”. This was beautiful food.
So I want to proudly mention the learners who cooked for me: Caleb Agbenafa, Joshua Agbenafa, Mbasa Mahlangeni, Alidzuli Mudau and Sandile Sikakane.
Everyone deserves a chance to excel. EduStreams is proof of what can happen when young people are seen properly, taught patiently, and given the space to thrive.
They are currently raising money to expand their facilities. And after that lunch, all I can say is this: back them. These learners are cooking something far bigger than a meal.
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