Dwight Cross — Sous-Chef, Breezes Runaway Bay

Food was definitely not Dwight Cross’s first career option after he attended the Marcus Garvey and Vere Technical high schools. As it turned out, however, financial difficulties led the engineering student to apply for a position as cook’s assistant at Hedonism III in May 2003, and he was employed by the executive chef Mark Cole. “I had no interest in food before, but it just happened, and I found myself growing into it more each day until I fell in love,” he tells Thursday Food.

Cross quickly developed his cooking skills in the pantry, so much so that he started carving gala buffet displays, and spent four years at the resort as Cole’s apprentice. During his tenure there, he enrolled in a year-long on-the-job certification course with the Runaway Bay HEART institute, where he received training in food safety, customer service, management, HACCP and Green Globe practices. Wanting to spread his wings, he went on to the Riu Hotel in Ocho Rios where he did a brief stint as a level one cook before moving on to Breezes Runaway Bay, where he served as garde manger until January 2009. Soon he was promoted to sous-chef, a position he still holds today. And the humble and industrious chef, who was born and raised in Chalky Hill, St Ann, where he still resides, is clearly a foodie at heart. He tells Thursday Food that when he’s not at work, he continuously immerses himself in food — cooking new dishes, honing his carving techniques and, of course, watching Food Network.

“I love food because I can get so many ideas from a single ingredient, and I find it amazing that there’s no wrong way to prepare anything, it’s just a new idea. Cooking is a part of me, and I love doing it,” he explains.

Cross’s zeal for cooking has certainly paid off, as he received the bronze medal in the Taste of Jamaica annual culinary competition last year, and was named ‘most outstanding kitchen employee for the year 2007’ at Hedonism III.

He is equally passionate about making a contribution to the nation’s food industry. “My aim right now is to become a master chef in the next three to five years. That’s how I see myself… not only as an executive chef,” Cross shares. “I’m planning to study culinary arts and chef management overseas next year, then come back home and invest my knowledge in Jamaica.”