TRINI chef and media personality Natasha de Bourg, aka the Classy Chef, is one very busy woman.
She is president of the Trinidad Culinary Association (TCA), judges international culinary competitions and produces and appears in multiple television shows. And she is preparing to add two more projects to her very full plate, namely a Caribbean/African culinary documentary series and an executive-chef position in the US.
Newsday caught up with De Bourg and chatted about her various activities in a recent interview, starting with the TCA.
She founded the association, which aims to preserve Trinidad and Tobago's culinary heritage, inspire creativity, and establish the country as a world-class culinary destination, last year, after returning from 13 years working abroad.
"Because I had this vision where I wanted to see the progression of culinary tourism and the culinary heritage and DNA preserved not just in TT but in the Caribbean as a whole. Because a lot of people go out of Trinidad and they don't come back home to give back to their country. So I wanted to be that person to come back."
She said while chefs are traditionally egoistic and would "fight" with other chefs, she wanted to pool together all chefs, including amateurs, experienced chefs and pioneers, to give back to Trinidad.
She recalled when TCA started she received a bit of opposition.
[caption id="attachment_1071088" align="alignnone" width="960"] Chef Natasha de Bourg, second from right, with the winning TT team at the first annual Caribbean Baking Awards in the British Virgin Islands. -[/caption]
"I am this young female chef, and the culinary world is known as a male industry."
De Bourg said she had to face the foundational chefs in TT who did not know who she was.
"But it didn't take long (to convince them). After one meeting they were on board with me."
She reported the TCA has more than chefs, bakers and culinary enthusiasts on its Instagram page and a private WhatsApp group with more than 80 chefs and restaurant owners.
She said her vision for the TCA includes making nationals aware of the culinary industry. She added that the industry is not appreciated because people are not aware of how much work it takes.
"Trinidad is a cultural country and Trinidad cannot be sustainable with two days of Carnival. It's just two days for the year, and yes, we are booked out and sold out. But I think Trinidad is so much more than Carnival."
De Bourg, a Christian, quoted Hosea 4:6, "My people perish for lack of knowledge," and applied it to the local culinary industry.
"Our education system, when it comes to culinary (matters), has been closed down. And that is why, when you go to restaurants, you don't get the level of quality that you would get. Because if you are not trained properly, then you cannot give what you don't have."
She said the results of the lack of education and training in the industry are cheap labour, inconsistent food quality and people who lack knowledge about what they have to produce.
"They are just workin
