Chef on the Rise for 2011…. who will it be?
Find out next Wednesday, May 25 at the Jamaica Observer Food Awards Foodie Seminar at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
Ainsley Lambie
Executive Chef, Coyaba Resort
Ainsley Lambie thanks his grandfather who unknowingly nudged him towards a culinary profession. ” [I think] my motivation for cooking started with my grandfather when we used to go to his farm and we would “run boats” with whatever was around; ackee and roasted sweet potato, or tin bum (mackerel) and roasted breadfruit was my favourite at the time”, Lambie shared. However, it wasn’t until he went to Ocho Rios Secondary School that Ainsley became fully cognizant of where his career ambitions lay. “I did food and nutrition courses and those two years gave me the boost for sure,” the executive chef at the Montego Bay-located Coyaba Resort said. “I remember in our end-of-year yearbook, I said I wanted to a chef.” Post-secondary tutelage came at the Runaway Bay HEART Hotel and Training Institute and the Culinary Institute of America, the latter at which he was certified as an executive chef.
Anthony Walters
Executive Pastry Chef, Sandals Grande Ocho Rios
Sandals Ocho Rios executive pastry chef Anthony Walters credits his mother for nurturing a love for food within him. He recalls her once telling him as a youngster “you have to turn your hand and make fashion”, and her words stuck with him. Coming from a family of five professional chefs, the Marcus Garvey Technical old boy studied culinary arts at the HEART Trust NTA before moving onto the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York. “For me, the learning at CIA was overwhelming and well worth it… it was very different and highly professional,” Walters said. The 32-year-old father of a teenaged daughter, Toniann, says he admires executive pastry chef and culinary consultant Gilbert McKenzie. “He is equipped with many years of peculiar and unique experiences locally and internationally,” Walters expressed.
Richard Mason
Executive Sous-Chef, The Palmyra
With his mother and grandmother both working at his Bryce Primary school canteen, at seven years old Richard Mason had the pre-adolescent career fantasy of being a chef. Add to that equation, the fact he would frequently go “bush cooking” with his father and was often called upon to assist in the preparation of meals at home. His present job as an executive sous-chef at the Palmyra Resort and Spa seemed all but destined. However, it truly was not until his high school years at Christiana High that a career in the culinary profession took firm root. “I was part of the food and nutrition class and my teacher Monica Barrette was of great assistance in enhancing my dreams to become a chef,” the 34-year-old reflected. Mason naturally transitioned from secondary school in Manchester to the Saunders’ Catering School in Kingston, and later to the Runaway Bay HEART Hotel and Training Institute. He would go on to achieve certification as a chef de cuisine from the Culinary Institute of America and Level Three certification from Johnson and Wales University. Mason’s résumé includes stints at Sandals Ocho Rios, Couples Ocho Rios, the Ritz-Carlton in Rose Hall, Montego Bay as well as the Ritz-Carlton Naples Beach Resort in Florida.
Christopher Golding
Chef de Cuisine, Sugar Mill Restaurant at Half Moon
“I was born doing food,” declares Christopher Golding, Half Moon’s new chef de cuisine for the 41-year-old Sugar Mill Restaurant. It’s nearly true for the Kingston native who remembers early years spent in his parents’ kitchen. “I was the second eldest of five kids and I was always in the kitchen. I loved hearing my family say, ‘Boy, what a little boy can cook!'” Golding recalls with a smile. This innate passion and early praise drove young Christopher to study home economics in high school before heading for the kitchens of Kingston’s top hotels. After taking an apprenticeship at the Wyndham Hotel, Golding moved to Sans Souci Resort on the island’s north coast. There he demonstrated great potential, impressing his supervisors and managers to invest in further training at Hocking Technical College in Ohio, United States, the Caribbean Training Institute and the HEART Academy in Runaway Bay, Jamaica. A desire for adventure and exploration soon had Christopher sailing aboard the Premier Cruise Lines where he spent five years as a chef de partie and later sous-chef.
Glenroy Walker
Executive Sous-Chef, Sandals Royal Caribbean
Chef Glenroy Walker is currently the executive sous-chef at Sandals Royal Caribbean. An aspiring Master Chef who is highly respected by his peers for his present-day culinary artistry, Walker traces his love for food back to a very young age when he would help his grandmother “cook up a storm” for family and friends. Having worked in the Caribbean, USA and Canada, Walker returned to Jamaica to make his mark within the hotel industry and soon began to delight his protégés with his culinary skills. With over 20 years’ experience in the field, he admits that his best years were spent in New Orleans where a confluence of various culinary cultures opened his eyes to a greater culinary world. Having worked for only two years at Sandals Royal Caribbean, Glenroy Walker has already displayed his passion and love for the culinary arts by creating original delicacies that have his guests asking for more. “The best part about my job is creating dishes and watching people savour the moment as they sample them.”
Christian Sweeney
Executive chef VIP Meats
Twenty-seven-year-old owner/operator of Fuzion Foodservice, and now executive chef VIP Meats Christian Sweeney, has returned to Jamaica to spread a few dining tables with his unique style of cuisine. With a first degree in Culinary Management from the International Culinary School at the Arts Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Sweeney shared, “cooking is the one thing in my life which has come to me very naturally.” No idle boast, since his interest in cooking was piqued at age nine. “I was also fortunate,” he continued, “to have a family who loved entertaining, and my mother is an exquisite cook while my uncle was a major influence.” Sweeney further added: “I am of the belief that cooking is an art, an art with inexhaustible flavours, textures, colours and aromas, making your plate my blank canvas of the senses.” His time overseas afforded him the opportunity to dine and work at some exquisite restaurants, and it is this experience, coupled with an excellent education in the art and fundamentals of cooking, that has given him “the tools to succeed in this tough and rugged industry”.
Nicholas Beckford
Resident Chef to the Deputy US ambassador to Jamaica Isaiah Parnell
It’s the eagerness in his eyes and that easy broad smile that gets our attention every time. A graduate of Tivoli Comprehensive High School, Nicholas Beckford has a passion for food and a quest for excellence. “I watch those who’ve excelled in the profession and match my game against theirs”. It’s no idle boast, for wherever two or three great chefs are gathered, in the midst is Nicholas Beckford. His primary focus this year is that of completing the joint HEART Trust NTA/Culinary Institute of America degree programme to add executive chef to his already impressive credentials from the Runaway Bay HEART Institute.
George Matthews
Resident chef — US Ambassador Pamela Bridgewater
Those in the food industry refer to this charming ever-so affable individual as ‘Big George’. Five minutes in his company, as the enfant terrible himself Marco Pierre White discovered on a recent trip to Kingston, leaves you not only wanting to know more about his easy charm but staying around that much longer. Matthews, who is currently chef-in-residence at the residence of US ambassador Pamela Bridgewater, was also responsible for former US ambassador Brenda La Grange Johnson. Like Nicholas Beckford, he too is on a quest to add executive chef to his credentials, and as such spends his weekends at the Runaway Bay Heart Institute completing the joint HEART/NTA/CIA degree programme.