Children love to experiment with new things growing up.

Not often would you find a child learning to make a dish with dasheen.

For Deja Frank that's just what she did.

She is in Grade 1 at the Little Jewels Early Childhood Centre.

Her father Derrick Frank told Newsday Kids the school has an exceptional online programme, which helped Deja unlock her love for food and encouraged her to take part in her first virtual food competition.

[caption id="attachment_924245" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Little Deja Frank blends her special dasheen punch. - David Reid[/caption]

During this year’s virtual celebration of Tobago’s Blue Food Festival in October, the public was invited to submit a short video recreating a blue food dish.

Deja’s teachers saw this as the perfect opportunity for her to get some exposure to show off her culinary skills to the country.

The Blue Food idea was planned by the school to coincide with the festival. Parents were asked to read stories, watch videos and take their children to the garden to learn all about dasheen as they prepared for the big day where each student had to present a dish made from dasheen for their show-and-tell segment. Deja had several choices like dasheen pancake and dasheen dumpling but decided to make a punch.

With the help of her mother, Deja recreated her own dasheen punch using a blend of essence, ice, spices, milk, paw paw, and colourful sprinkles for presentation.

[caption id="attachment_924247" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Deja Frank, centre, lets her mother Shownette Sebro Frank sample her dasheen-style pancake as her father Derrick Frank awaits his turn. - David Reid[/caption]

At just four years old, Deja’s assertive and expressive personality grabs the attention of an audience when she enters a room.

This boldness was very noticeable during an interview at her Mason Hall home.

In a conversation about her special punch recipe she said, “It tastes good and I put sprinkle on the bowl and throw it on the glass, I throw the dasheen in there and I throw all the ingredients in there with my milk and water. I blend it up and throw it in mummy glass. Mummy (video) tape it to show my auntie and everybody like it. I like that.”

The one-minute video showing Deja making the punch, dressed in her white chef apron and hat, attracted over 100,000 views and garnered 200 comments after it was published on the Tobago Festivals Facebook page on October 22.

[caption id="attachment_924246" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Deja Frank adds colourful sprinkles to her signature drink. - David Reid[/caption]

People commended little Deja for her bravery, confidence and cooking expertise.

She said she had fun being a part of the competition and even though she didn’t qualify for the final round she said this is only the beginning of her exciting food journey.

Deja recently started school and has described online learning as exciting, fun and engaging. Still, she can’t wait when face-to-face classes are allowed to resume for all children so that she can