Nasma Mohammed-Chin — Transforming food culture

BORN in Canada and raised in Trinidad, Nasma Mohammed-Chin, festival director for the Jamaica Food & Drink Festival (JFDF), has made Kingston her home for the last 18 years, and remains passionate about creating world-class experiences in what she calls the “heartbeat of the Caribbean”.

In a recent interview with All Woman, Mohammed-Chin joked about how “the ring” — which represents her love and marriage to Jamaican Alex Chin — brought her to our beloved Caribbean country with one of the most envied gastronomical landscapes in the world.

“I’m imported by the ring, yes, but I made it home because of my love for Kingston. There is a grit and grace about this city that you either love or not. It’s where I choose to raise my three wonderful Jamaican kids, created a life with my handsome husband, and where I have found amazing friends who I call family,” Mohammed-Chin said.

“A lot of what I do in entrepreneurship is about making sure that Jamaica is on the map for all the right reasons. I see it as my small legacy for a country that has given me so much,” Mohammed-Chin, Miss Trinidad & Tobago Universe 2002, smiled.

Mohammed-Chin now leads an all-woman team that is tasked with organising the first culinary festival in Jamaica, The Jamaica Food & Drink Festival, which is held in October each year, and has been hugely successful in the past eight years.

Being a foundation member of JFDF, she said, was not an easy road as they were building a brand and concept new to Jamaica. With mostly women on her team, they put in long hours, pushed the boundaries and curated epic culinary experiences, transforming unique venues into memorable spaces.

She said her team was set from the inception to offer a product second to none not only their patrons, but also their sponsors.

“When we started off it was a group effort to ensure that we created something that people would want to partner with, and I think that when you start off with any idea, whatever type of business it is, it’s important to have a business plan and a strategy and know what your vision is,” Mohammed-Chin said.

“We knew what our 10-year goal was from day one. That was making Jamaica ‘The Coolest Food Festival in the Caribbean’ and when we presented that to the various partners, they came on board as we focused on scaling for growth, ensuring innovation was at the heart of everything we did, towards that goal,” she said.

“One of the keys to the success of JFDF, is keen attention to detail and how the brand is presented to the public. What must always be produced is something that is vibrant and impactful, creating conversations and a second glance. So for our events, we spend a lot of time on the themes, the décor, the food styling, types of cocktails and wines — every aspect of the gastronomy experience, as well as the marketing and the administration, which are seriously executed.”

She said the team never imagined the idea of a festival in the capital city would have grown so quickly within a decade, but they are indeed grateful for it.

“Did we know that we would grow and have all of these partners? No, but we thought if we did it right or as we continue learning lessons from each staging, and adding value for our partners, they would continue partnering with us in the long haul and we continue attracting the right sponsors.”

Mohammed-Chin said she and her JFDF team want to take Jamaica to higher heights when it comes to gastronomy, and not only put on an amazing festival.

“Over the past eight years, we’ve grown into winning awards like the Caribbean’s Best Culinary Festival and at the international World Culinary Awards. In 2021, JFDF was awarded the World’s Best Culinary Festival and the Caribbean’s Best Culinary Festival after challenging rivals such as Dubai,” she said.

After being announced the winner for the first time, Mohammed-Chin said she was literally on the ground.

“The team felt amazing! We were happy to be nominated. It’s a fairly young festival. We spent a lot of time ensuring that we created a template that is world class, and it’s great when you get accolades not only for the brand or the team, but also for Jamaica,” she said.

For 2022, the festival is again shortlisted and is competing for the title against The Cayman Islands and Saint-Barthélemy, a French overseas territory in the Leeward Islands. The winner will be announced next month.

Based on experience, Mohammed-Chin strongly believes it is important for women, especially those entrepreneurially driven, to put their ideas out and seek the help of others and receive support, as that was a secret to her success in the gastronomical environment in Jamaica.

Mohammed-Chin credits growing up in the Caribbean for assisting her with her journey in the culinary arena.

“I would say it’s definitely being of Caribbean heritage that inspired me because, to us, our food is our love language and if you think about it, we celebrate around food, whether it’s a birth, a wedding or an anniversary, food just has to be there,” she said.

“I remember my grandparents; every Sunday I would go have lunch with them. There was always something being cooked and so they may not always say ‘good job’, ‘I love you’, but they’ll give you a huge plate of food and we would huddle around it, so whether it’s Jamaica, Trinidad or anywhere else in the Caribbean, I do think it’s absolutely sure that it inspires how we celebrate, but also our creation of fusion cuisine,” she said.

Additionally, Mohammed-Chin loves to celebrate with Caribbean food as it truly illustrates that the Caribbean is multi-cultured with a unique ‘melting pot’ not just of people, but of flavours.

“There’s something in Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad, wherever in the Caribbean, it’s very different. There’s a little French, a little Spanish, a little Indian, a huge melting pot,” she said.

“Our five days of JFDF events are not only about Jamaican food. We are a true food festival, so when it comes to any of our events, we have a global culinary offering and our chefs spend a lot of time curating food that is different from what you will get from anywhere else,” she added.