By Shermon Hawker
(Kaieteur News) – An overseas-based Guyanese is stirring things up both at home and abroad. Not in the context of mischief, as “stirring things up” is so regularly interpreted, but masterfully, as a chef. Quincy White, 38, is a sous chef, to be exact.
From a French etymological background, sous chef means “under chief,” and such a person is responsible for the operation of a specific kitchen, but functions within the purview of a head or executive chef. He or she assumes that capacity in the absence of the head chef.
Chef Quincy White prepares a meal at George hotel by Best Western, Lichfield City Birmingham, England
White is a freelance chef for an agency, Constellation, based in England, but is currently back home in Guyana on vacation and also to lend his professional perspective and culinary savviness to his hometown, New Amsterdam. As part of the New Amsterdam Town Week activities, he has been tasked with overseeing the second annual Food Festival.
Hours of binge-watching the hit TV cooking series MasterChef would whet the idea of being a cook that had taken root in him, until it became a full-blown desire.
BACKGROUND
Our featured chef sprouts from the New Amsterdam soil of Region Six. His parents, Deslyn and Osric White, brought forth two other children alongside him.
He enrolled at St. Mary’s Nursery School and proceeded to St. Aloysius Primary School, before closing his academic life in Guyana at the Berbice Educational Institute (BEI), after which he departed for another hemisphere in 2006.
TWIST OF FATE
“I always enjoyed cooking. The inspiration came from my grandmother and my mom. When she (mother) was younger, she did some Carnegie (School of Home Economics), she did some home economics training when she was younger.”
While his fervor for the kitchen prevailed, White initially had his thoughts fixed on engineering. This was not to be, it seemed. But this was not on account of impulses that flatlined or flailing enthusiasm. Circumstances governed his redirection, but it would all eventually work out positively for him.
“I did not start the culinary arts when I went to England. I started doing my engineering, because engineering was my main focus before I became a chef. I have a diploma in engineering and welding…I had an injury to my eyes, so I had a career change before I became a chef,” he told Kaieteur News.
A PIECE OF CAKE
“I went to one of the colleges one day and just registered to do the culinary arts programme, and I was successful in gaining entry.”
He received further education at South Birmingham City College from 2009 to 2011 in Birmingham, England, from which he obtained a Level 1 & 2 Diploma in Professional Chef, a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) 1 in Hospitality and Catering, for which he trained for two years, and a Food Safety Certificate. Armed with those credentials, White began firing on all cylinders.
Chef White fine-tunes delicacies at a private function in Wales.
Elements of the course, its techniques and arrangements, were mostly familiar to him already, having observed his mother and grandmother back home in Guyana as a child.
White took up permanent residency in England, but his demanding yet fulfilling line of work saw him crisscrossing between England and New York in the United States for approximately five years at the French company, Elior Group.
The veteran chef rehearsed a series of procedures that occur way before a match is put to the stove. For him, the cooking begins mentally, and the ingredients are carefully thought garnished with a conservative dash of creativity on a platter of consistency.
“When you’re cooking and you’re producing something, sometimes you might go from a dream to an idea, and then you practice it. You put it into motion, you put it on a plate and then it goes out to a customer, and after the customer has it, they either give you a good or bad review. You always get that inspiration that pushes into making it better, or that joy that you did create something for them to enjoy.”
SERVING SIMPLICITY
His mindset transcends discipline in the kitchen to everyday life as he strives to strike a balance.
Chef White at the New Amsterdam Food Festival last week.
“My philosophy is treat people the way you would like to be treated, and keep things simple. In the chef trade, you’re working those long hours, you’re working in a diverse team, and sometimes from different backgrounds, different cultures, sometimes you might be in their position, they might be in your position. You have to treat them the way you would like to be treated. Sometimes, in the kitchen, you spend more time there than at home, and it’s like your second family. You get to be close with everyone.”
White’s profession did add extraordinary flavours to his life. A major highlight among many for him was the opportunity to meet celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, of the very cooking show to which he had previously been glued. White would also engage other renowned chefs from that show, facilitated by the college, and expanded his own experience.
SIGNATURE DISH
Despite the exposure and adjustment to a rather diversified culture in England, White never divorced himself from his Guyanese heritage. One of his signature dishes is pepperpot wings with farine and cassava bread, a concept which was well received, according to him. He also experimented with pistachio and vermicelli cheesecake, another one of his unique creations.
ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
Perhaps not in the context he envisioned while the embers of his post-high-school game plan glowed, as he migrated with his engineering passion intact, but taking into account that his present profession as a chef entails designing, building and maintaining in considerable ways, it can be summed up that our featured individual is an engineer of sorts. His station: the kitchen.
And in the end, it would be an ironic unfolding that, due to injured eyes, he was allowed to see a clearer path for his future.
He would, in no time, discover that with prudent, purposeful preparation, life can, at times and in some instances, be a piece of cake. Since then, he has had, positively so, a lot on his plate, literally.
Source: Kaieteur News
