Exclusive Interview Of A Chef From South Africa How Sore Joints Almost Ruined His Career

Chef Robert Mokoena has been delighting all visitors of his restaurant with unusual dishes with incredible taste for many years. But each profession has its own nuances that others do not know about. What is hidden behind the delicious food, pleasant atmosphere and wide smile of Robert Mokoena? We talked to him, found out why he decided to become a chef, what difficulties he faced and how he coped with them.

Your restaurant has a lot of visitors every day. And seeing you, you can say that you like your work. Tell us, how did you become a chef?

I think, like many people, I started cooking as a child. I am the only child in the family, I had no sisters, so my mother often asked me to cook something simple, for example, vegetable salad, or peel onions, garlic, carrots for a more complex dish. And I always liked to help her and I really like to eat, so everything came together. Over time, I spent more and more time in the kitchen and learned everything from my mother. When she taught me everything she could, I decided that I didn't want to stop there, so I entered the school of chefs. As a matter of fact, this is how my journey began.

Surely you have faced difficulties in your profession. What was the most difficult for you?

You know, I've always liked cooking, so it was in terms of cooking that I didn't experience any great difficulties. Of course there are different dishes, but I have always been interested in coping with such obstacles. What was really difficult for me was when my own body almost failed me.

Tell us more. What happened to you?

My profession itself involves working with my hands. Hands for a cook are the same as hands for a surgeon — this is my main tool. In addition, I work standing up all the time, which also affects my legs. The problems started about 2 years ago. At that time I was 50 years old. My age is not small, but I did not have any health problems. But one day, after a long day at work, my hands and knees began to hurt. I didn't attach any importance to it. Then it began to happen every day. But even then I didn't do anything. But when it was difficult for me to hold the knife in my hands and every movement caused severe pain, I realized that I needed to do something.

Have you seen a doctor?

Yes, he said I was developing osteoarthritis. All my symptoms pointed to this. My knees hurt a lot, especially at the end of the day, sometimes I heard a click when walking. For me, the most uncomfortable was the pain in the joints of the hands. This is the most important thing for me. The doctor explained that the cause of osteoarthritis of the hands is considered to be age-related changes in articular cartilage. Over time, the cartilage tissue in the joints becomes thinner, loses elasticity. For this reason, the joints become unstable to physical exertion. So my hands could no longer cope with the daily work.

What did the doctor tell you?

He advised me to rest for a while, stick to a proper diet and prescribed me different pills. But if I could still eat right, then I couldn't quit my job in any way. So I continued to work with joint pain. And those pills prescribed by the doctor did not help me at all. I don't know why. Maybe they just didn't fit me. But I was desperate. And without a doctor, it was clear that it would only get worse. Cooking is my whole life. I couldn't just give up.

How did you solve the problem of diseased joints?

You know, it happened by a happy accident. Different people come into my restaurant, I know many of them. One of my regular visitors was a woman who worked as an arthrologist. I shared my problem with her and she immediately said that she knew what would help me. She wrote me the name of the cream that can help me and said that she uses it herself and is happy with the result.

In short, I bought this cream, it is called Spasmalir . And I started smearing it on my fingers, hands and knees a couple of times a day. You know, it started to help. The pills did not give any result, but this cream helped. It's even amazing. It was a little easier for me to stand and work with my hands, so I just kept smearing the joints. A couple of weeks later, that woman came to me again and asked about my health. She was not surprised by my result and said that it was all because of the natural composition. That's all. Sometimes what is given by nature is much more effective than anything that people come up with. It's the same in cooking.

We are glad that you managed to get rid of the pain. Where did you buy this cream?

I found Spasmalir on the Internet. At first I went to the pharmacy, but it wasn't there. As that arthrologist woman told me, the cream manufacturer did not want to contact pharmacies because of the large tax and the price increase, so it was decided to sell via the Internet. What surprised me was the price. For the effect that I got, I could have given a lot more money. And this cream costs just very little compared to the pills that my doctor prescribed for me.

Thank you for the interview and for sharing your experience. Surely many people thought that being a chef is a cushy job.

Thank you. Even in my profession there are difficulties and I am an example of that. In fact, many of my familiar chefs have problems with joints. But now I know what can help us all. Therefore, finally I want to wish all readers to do what they really love and not forget to take care of your health.

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