Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 27/Jul 23:11

Trini-born chef competes for Favorite Chef prize

Even after decades living in the US, Chef Kashia Diaz says she has never lost her deep-rooted love for Trinidad and Tobago and her identity manifests in everything she does. Currently, Diaz is representing TT in an online cooking competition hosted by chef and TV personality Clara Hall called Favorite Chef. Now living in Connecticut, Diaz placed third in the quarterfinals of the People’s Choice or voting part of the competition which started on May 20 and ended on July 25. While she lost out on the US$25,000 prize, she is still in the running for Carla’s Pick, to be announced around on August 2. At that time Hall will select a submitted photo of a dish created by one of the quarter-finalist based on the plating presentation. So she has the chance to win a "foodie trip” to New York City valued at US $7,500. “I’m nervous but I always say everything happens in its time. And if it's for me, it's for me. And if it's not, it's not my time. Either way it was a great learning experience. I'm all about divine appointments. What will be, will be.” The 52-year-old Carenage woman entered the competition to try to win some money to rejuvenate her non-profit organisation My City Kitchen. From 2009 to 2017 she taught youths between the ages of six and 17 to be independent in the kitchen. Her mission, she said, was to teach children about food and food products, and instil healthy eating habits from a young age so they could grow into healthy adults. The idea for My City Kitchen came from her desire to spend quality time with her two sons. At the time, she had recently returned from studying culinary arts in Italy and had greatly missed her children, who were both in primary school at the time. So she decided to teach them how to cook. “We grew up poor and we learned how to cook at an early age, to be independent. But coming to the US, I realised that was not something that was taught to children because the parents did everything for them. I wanted to make sure that I instilled those positive habits from my youth in my children so I started teaching my kids how to cook.” [caption id="attachment_1098812" align="alignnone" width="768"] Chef Kashia Diaz displays one of her healthy dishes. -[/caption] Her sons Brandon and Tyler, now ages 30 and 26 respectively, would sit on their porch and tell their friends about the things they cooked or baked. Soon, many of the neighbourhood children were showing up at her door wanting to learn too and she agreed. After about three weeks, the parents of those children approached her. They said the children were going home and practising during the week, preparing healthy food for themselves and their families. The parents thanked her saying how much her occupying their children helped them and offered to give her whatever materials she needed to continue the classes. More and more children kept showing up at her house and they became too many to handle in her kitchen. A friend told her God was calling her to do something great in the community and she should do the classes as a business. But as the purpose of the project was to spend time with her boys, she did not want to do it as a business. So, she prayed about it and decided to do it as a non-profit organisation. “I got my NGO certification from the US government and was established as a nonprofit organisation. I started in January 2009 and opened the doors in June. I opened it with my own funds and ran it with my own funds for two years until I was able to get funding.” In 2010, former first lady Michelle Obama launched the Let's Move! initiative which taught children about healthy eating and exercise. It was dedicated to solving the problem of obesity so children born today would grow up healthier. The media took an interest in My City Kitchen, which gave it a huge boost. But in 2017, Diaz had to put the organisation on hold. Her landlord needed the space she had been using and she needed a bigger space as the organisation was expanding. She said as a non-profit organisation she had to keep asking for money but she did not want to do that. She wanted her students to be able to cater events to help fund the kitchen and as a job training programme so they could work in the food industry when they became of legal adults. She said even though she received a grant to help with the operations of My City Kitchen, she had to return the funds because no one would rent her a space where she could install a commercial kitchen as it would be difficult to rent it again once she left. Her intention was to use the money from Favorite Chef to relaunch and reopen My City Kitchen. Although that is no longer a possibility, she is planning and working to rebuild the NGO. Diaz told WMN cooking has always been her passion and would watch the TV show Wok With Yan religiously. She recalled her grandfather was a farmer in Point Fortin and the family had a bar-b-que business. She would spend her August vacation there and help in the kitchen. [caption id="attachment_1098808" align="alignnone" width="768"] Chef Kashia Diaz, originally from Carenage, is competeing in the Favorite Chef online cooking competition. Photos courtesy Kashia Diaz. -[/caption] “Cooking was just part of life in Trinidad. A death, a baby shower, a celebration – everything revolves around food. So too with my mom’s family in Carenage. So I grew up with that, and my first job after school at Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive was working at a fast food restaurant. I wanted to do something in food because I loved it.” She moved to the US in 1994 at age 22 when she was pregnant with her first son. She wanted to have her own restaurant one day so her first job was at a cafe in New York City. But her plans changed when, for financial reasons, she and her son moved to Connecticut where she had family. There she worked at Yale Hospital as a business associate for four years. But she became pregnant again and, because daycare for her two sons was so expensive, her husband at the time suggested she stay at home to care for the children. As a stay-at-home mother, she did catering and started learning different crafts including cake decorating. When Tyler started attending school, she got a job in the school system but, after a while, she felt the craving to return to the food business full time. “People started saying, ‘Oh, you're charging so much for this and you're not even a professional.’ And I said, ‘You know what? People always trying to nickel and dime you, and I've always wanted to go back to school, so why not go back to school and do culinary arts as it’s something you actually love and are passionate about?’ And I went back to culinary school in 2006.” In 2008 she graduated with a diploma in culinary arts from Lincoln Culinary Institute which, at the time, was named Connecticut Culinary Institute. She opted to participate in a study abroad programme at the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners in Italy. And during her four-month stay she worked at a Michelin star restaurant at Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio. “I didn't know I needed Italy so badly. I fell in love with the culture, the food, the lifestyle, everything. I'm obsessed. And that's why, to this day, I still travel to Italy every year.” There she gained many skills, met several chefs and made a lot of connections including with an olive oil producer. Now she is working with Enotre Oil Company, marketing the product in North America and the Caribbean since 2015. She said when she opened My City Kitchen, her instructors wanted to work with her. She took classes at the Italian Food Style Education (IFSE) in Italy and worked to get her students training in that country. There was also a partnership with the now defunct TT Hospitality and Tourism Institute for a study abroad programme as well as for the Italian chefs to teach in Trinidad. In 2022, when she opened her business KD Gastronomy Consulting, she used the curriculum she created for My City Kitchen to teach adults the basics, from knife skills to international cuisine, in a ten-week certificate programme. She also uses that curriculum to help another non-profit organisation, The United Way Women and Family Center in Meriden, Connecticut, to get food handlers certification for its participants. She said she is mindful of the culture of the students and shows them how to make healthy versions of the food they already eat. So she often travels to different countries learning about the food and culture. Diaz is also insistent that TT food is incorporated in her catering and teaching and since she returned from Italy, she had been working fusion dishes. “My food and my culture is always front and centre. It doesn't matter. I've been living here for 30 years but Trini is who I am. I am never going to lose my identity as a Trini. And my food and everything that I do speaks for itself. “No matter what TV segment I do, I always represent TT. I am very proud to say this girl from Carenage. I know Carenage doesn’t have a very good name, but I want people to know good things come from Carenage.” She added that KD Gastronomy Consulting is growing. She is currently working with many schools in different school districts in Connecticut. She recently did a project for the University of Connecticut in which she created recipes that were culturally fitting for their students. The recipes will be incorporated in a book to be used in school districts across the state. She is also teaching food directors and cooks at the schools how to cook farm-to-table, is the manager of Bridgeport Rescue Mission and was a contributor to the food documentary Carb-Loaded: A Culture Dying to Eat on Netflix. In 2016 she was one of 12 black chefs featured by Aetna, one of the US’ leading diversified health care benefits companies, and has won several awards and accolades including the Lion’s Club International’s “Citizen of the Year,” The Trinibago American Association of Southern Connecticut’s Excellence Award, the Meriden Children First’s Children’s Champion and Connecticut Magazine’s 40 Under 40.   The post Trini-born chef competes for Favorite Chef prize appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.