Demonstrating its ongoing commitment to nurturing the next generation of culinary arts professionals locally, the Jamaica Observer has awarded six students from the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Jamaica) School of Hospitality and Tourism Management with Table Talk Food Awards scholarships and bursaries.

The recipients — Khalisa McLean, Kanye Swaby, Yolan Davis, Tyssanne Thomas, Kia Campbell, and Anna-Kaye Doyle — were selected after conversation-style interviews with a panel of judges headed by Novia McDonald-Whyte, the conceptualiser and chair of the Food Awards, on Wednesday.

Now in its 27th year, the Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards has been offering scholarships to students enrolled in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at UTech, Jamaica in a bid to open opportunities in the culinary industry and support students who are diligently training in the field.

The programme, since its inception, has provided over $20 million in scholarships and bursaries to more than 60 students.

“The Jamaica Observer’s mandate is very simple, to lift our nation — that was our late chair, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart’s simple philosophy, to lift our nation. All of the initiatives that we have are there ostensibly to lift,” McDonald-Whyte explained.

Herself a former lecturer at UTech, Jamaica, the scholarship programme is also a way for the Observer’s senior associate editor for lifestyle and social content to give back by pulling students into rooms available to her and other established players in the culinary industry.

“When we started the Jamaica Observer Food Awards it was difficult not to remember the students who were not able to dine out, who were not able to flip through pages of a food magazine to understand the language of culinary, to be exposed,” she said.

Prior to the interviews, McDonald-Whyte stressed to the candidates that they have a responsibility to centre local cuisine, even as it is recognised globally.

“We need to stop searching for the Michelin, because we are the Michelin here and, therefore, we need to really celebrate that which is ours, elevate that which is ours, and, obviously, we look to you guys to do that because you are the future.

“We want to hear that somebody here is going to position something that the world has not yet discovered,” she told the candidates, adding, “Don’t think that it’s exhausted, we’ve only just begun.”

The expectations of McDonald-Whyte and the other judges — UTech Chief Technical Officer Dr Garcia Green, Jamaica Observer Managing Editor Miguel Thomas, and guest judge Angelique Beaubrun — were met as three of the candidates produced interviews that earned full scholarships, namely third-year students Campbell and Doyle, and second-year student Thomas.

For Thomas, who received the Novia McDonald-Whyte Scholarship, the mantle now placed on her shoulders is one she’s determined to carry with grace.

“I really do feel like I am on my way to living up to that expectation. I want to be an inspiration,” she said.

A self-proclaimed reformed picky eater, Thomas told the judges her passion for food stems from curiosity — a desire to know what exactly she is putting in her body.

“Culinary and baking found me in a season of my life when my relationship with food was struggling,” she explained, adding, “I started eating because of baking.”

When asked what potential dish she would create for the judges if given the chance, she described a cornmeal soufflé with caramelised plantains and passion fruit sauce.

For her, cooking is a puzzle.

“We all are humans, but we have different fingerprints. You may be a chef, but your story is different from my story…a standard recipe, but the heart and soul that I put in it is different from what you put in it,” she said.

For the determined and energetic Doyle, who at 25 works full-time and is the sole breadwinner for her son and mother, the full scholarship represents access to a world she had been locked out of due to her responsibilities.

Reflecting on her pain at having to turn down an offer to join an exchange programme in Canada for which she was selected, because of her parental responsibilities, she said, “My fear is graduating as a ghost.”

She maintained, however, that her creativity has flourished regardless.

“My whole goal when it comes on to food is to be out of the norm, it is to present what you already know in a way that you never thought of it,” Doyle said.

For Campbell, who is Japanese Jamaican and has also been working full-time for years, the intersection of her cultural identities plays a significant role in how she approaches food.

Describing a fusion of Jamaican ackee and Japanese natto in a sushi roll for her potential dish, the first-degree black belt in karate holder noted that getting the scholarship would make her an ambassador for others like her.

“To show young people from different backgrounds and ethnicities that wherever you want to be, no matter where you come from, you can be…if you really want it, and I think that is a good representation of the motto Out of Many One People,” she said.

McLean, Swaby, and Davis were the three bursary awardees.

The innovative ideas shared by the young men and women represent what the Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards hopes to foster locally.

“When we started the Food Awards 27 years ago, it was not fashionable, people actually didn’t understand why people wanted to be in the kitchen,” McDonald-Whyte said. “Now our caterers are stars, our chefs are stars.”