Future CHEFS

Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter

Kyle Gooden and Daniel Gordon are not your average 15-year-old boys. While others their age may be engrossed in gadgets or video games, they are in the kitchen creating new recipes.

The boys have been best friends from birth and are both students at Wolmer's High School for Boys. These young aspiring chefs have moved from cooking at home for family and friends to showing off their talents at major events such as the recent Shaggy and Friends concert, where The Gleaner first met them.

Gordon comes from a long line of chefs; his grandfather, uncles, and mother are chefs. In fact, his grandfather once owned and operated one of Kingston's popular Chinese eateries, Fahmee Restaurant. But it was his mother, Lisa, who taught him to cook.

Gordon told Food that from an early age he watched and helped out his mother in the kitchen. But he began cooking when he was just nine years old. He said his inspiration for cooking is because he loves food and, of course, satisfying his appetite. But, most of all, he loves to experiment with food.

"Whenever I go into the kitchen to cook, anything that I find or which comes to mind, I put together. And that's how I came up with one of my special recipes, banana oatmeal cookies," notes Gordon.

Though he loves to experiment with different recipes, his favourite dishes to prepare are from pasta. He noted that while he now has a good handle on cooking, it wasn't always that way as he recalls that once he tried to fry some shrimp but they came out very soggy, more like boiled shrimp.

Nevertheless, Gordon is well beyond his years in the culinary department, so much so that he assists his mother who operates a catering business.

While Gordon is just in third form, he is already thinking of the future and his plans to become a chef, engineer and businessman. He is so passionate about his future careers that, if he had his own way, he would enrol in culinary school right now.

Natural Knack

Gooden also has a natural knack for cooking, but he got his culinary skills from his father, Phillip Gooden. Like his best friend, he began cooking when he was seven years old.

Gooden told Food that though his father taught him to cook, he learnt a lot from watching the Food Network channel. His favourite show is Diners Drive-Ins and Dives.

"Most times when I watch the programme and get recipes, I try them out. But I usually add my own ingredients to them," he adds.

The young chef explains that, like most people, his first cooking experience was frying an egg, which he said turned out pretty well. Nonetheless, he admitted that it was not quite the same when he tried baking a cake.

"It came out super tough, but since then, I can now bake very well."

Gooden told Food that he has always wanted to be a chef and that is what he is working towards. His father is his role model and he is striving to be one of Jamaica's best chefs. Gooden plans to attend culinary school after graduating high school, but one could say he has a jump-start, as he took some cooking classes when he was just seven years old.

For the young chef, cooking is the best pastime. He notes that he just loves going into the kitchen and whipping up something. In fact, he is always in the kitchen. But while he can cook just about anything, steak is his favourite dish to prepare. Gooden's love affair with cooking also works for his elder brother, as he and his friends get to enjoy some of his brother's delicious meals free of cost.

Currently, the young chefs are getting more recognition and experience helping Gordon's mother with some of her catering jobs. But all in all, the boys are ecstatic to work and coming up with new and exciting dishes.

keisha.shakespeare@gleanerjm.com