Michelle Pala
A Healthy Portion of Enthusiasmt

The major part of Michelle’s job is ensuring that the meals served on board SAX planes are not only tasty, but also comply with the International Travelling Catering Association’s (ITCA) standards. All airline caterers have to comply with a strict set of rules laid out by the ITCA to ensure freshness and safety.

As SAX product manager and the Sub-Saharan regional director for the ITCA, Michelle has a busy job ensuring that the food-making process runs according to protocol. The process begins when all raw products are tested for freshness and stored at specific temperatures to make certain they stay that way. One of the rules is that cooked food should not come into contact with raw food. All food is prepared in a chilled environment and once cooked, the food must be cooled and packaged very quickly to ensure that it does not spoil. As there are no refrigeration facilities on aircraft, it is essential that all the procedures are strictly adhered to in order to maintain freshness.

Michelle is responsible for performing quality checks and occasional tastings when new products are introduced. She heads the extensive panel of individuals who try out new products and decide which of them will be included in the food packages. She says that South Africans are some of the trickiest passengers to please, as their cultures and tastes vary vastly. “Your average passenger is a businessman who prefers a home-cooked meal. But because few aircraft have warming facilities we cannot accommodate such food. There are also certain South African foods that tourists will not touch.”

Michelle enjoys her job immensely and finds the challenges involved enormously stimulating. “Catering in itself is exciting for me, because I grew up in this kind of environment, so was always cooking something or other. But add to that the challenges that come with catering in the airline industry, and you will never be bored.”

Michelle was raised on a small farm in Springs, and as a young girl was given her own patch of land where she could grow vegetables and consume them at will - unlike the other vegetables that were reserved for cooking. The property also possessed numerous fruit trees and Michelle spent much of her free time making jam from the fruit.

Showing an interest in cuisine at an early age, Michelle was quickly roped into helping her mother with her catering business. Michelle relates how she was always at her mother’s side helping her prepare dishes and platters for events and so picked up valuable knowledge about the industry.

Michelle jokes that if she were solely in charge of deciding what goes on the catering menu for the airline, most passengers would rather go hungry. After giving birth to her son 30 years ago, Michelle decided to take an ultra healthy route to shake off the extra weight she put on. She states that she is a complete “health nut” and does not eat sugar or bread, but mostly raw vegetables and fruit. She believes that one truly is what one eats.

It was during the period after her son’s birth that Michelle decided to take a few modelling lessons to boost her confidence. She was soon spotted by a talent scout and consequently worked in the industry for a number of years. As a teenager Michelle had always dreamt of becoming a model, but admits that the reality was a wake-up call. “The industry is not nearly as glamorous as one might think. Although a lot of fun, it is a very dishonest industry, but it was a great learning curve and I’m glad I had those experiences.”

Michelle’s two children live in America and she travels abroad twice a year to visit them. Although she has travelled extensively through her job and for family visits, Michelle admits that there is no better place to live and work than in South Africa. “This country has energies that you will not find elsewhere. The people are so vibrant and colourful and besides making wonderful friends, it also contributes to a more challenging job to find foods that suit everyone’s palate.”

Not one to sit around and twiddle her thumbs, Michelle is currently studying for an international Marketing Management Diploma. Once she has completed the course she hopes to study alternative healing, specialising in hot stone therapy.

Michelle has a number of achievements of which she is proud, including completing the Argus cycle race four times, participating in white-water rafting and completing her matric the same year that her son was born.

Michelle has led an eventful life and truly believes that life should be lived with passion. She continues to adhere to the principle that one should try to achieve as much as possible in life. A perfect candidate for product manager at SAX, we can be sure that Michelle will continue to bring passengers first-class food, and will do so with enthusiasm.