Season 3 - Episode 8 - Michael Desouza - In-Flight Purser to Professional Chef!

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Michael De Souza was working at Emirates airlines for 15 years, the pandemic came along, he was made redundant like so many people at the time, however he didn’t rest on his laurels, as there was always a passion for food from a young age, so he decided to become a chef. During his time growing up in India, his family owned a bakery, so naturally he grew up around hospitality, he recalls in 1994 when cable was available there were a couple of chefs on TV that would catch his interest even more so.

The first would be a show called Yan Can Cook, by revered chef Martin Yan. https://yancancook.com/home/
The second would be the late great Keith Floyd.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Floyd

The two food shows ignited a spark within young Michael, to taste all of the wonderful food he saw, and to travel, little did he know back then, that this influence would be a huge part of his adult life.
His family wanted to be a doctor, an engineer, he had other plans, to be part of a cabin crew.

He applied and got rejected a total of 18 times, with various airlines for various different reasons. One day the opportunity arose to interview with Emirates, only problem is that there was already 500 people in the queue, most of those with flight experience. Undetered by the 12 hour interview, he gave it his best, and finally got the job!
https://www.emirates.com/ae/english/
During his time and working his way up through the ranks, he learnt a great deal about the various types of foods, how to serve, how to deal with people from all walks of life, it was a great learning process.
Not being the type of person to shy away from a challenge, Michael wanted to push himself further within a leadership role, so he applied to be a flight supervisor, he then went on to become a successful Purser for one of the best airlines in the world.

After a 15 year career, he forced to make lifechanging decision due to COVID- 19, this came naturally as he loved food, but how do you become a chef?

After a conversation with his wife, she mentioned how much he loved food and his interest was always to be a chef, so he enrolled himself into one of the leading culinary institutes in the country – SCAFA!
http://www.scafa.ae
He now is a qualified chef, his apprenticeship began by working at the 5 star luxury hotel ME Dubai, which fast tracked him into working all of the sections of the kitchen, and has taught him the values of what it takes to be a chef in the true sense of the word.

From one extreme to another, Michael without a doubt will go far in his culinary career, as there are no boundaries, his pure passion and dedcication to keep pushing himself to be better day by day is what chef’s always strive for, looking forward to seeing the next phase of his journey.

To see what he is doing, you can follow him on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/chefmichaelagnelo/

Stay tuned for next week’s show, we talk to one of the most re-known broadcasters in the region and in the UK!
Thank you to our partners Gulfood and Meelz, make sure to click on their links at the very top of the page.
Until next time, food is memories!

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