At left is BENJAMIN. At right is a sweet potato salad and Sweet and Sour Tofu (at top), part of a festive vegetarian feast. -Grace Cameron photos
PERISH THE thought that vegetarian food is boring and if you cannot imagine Christmas dinner without ham and roast beef, think again. Kingsley Benjamin, chef at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) canteen, Mandeville, has prepared a meatless feast to make your taste buds dance. This tasty and heart-friendly Christmas dinner has colour, spice and the traditional Jamaican gungo rice and peas to round out the meal.
Chef Benjamin's veggie delights
Keisha Shakespeare, Freelance Writer
KINGSLEY BENJAMIN'S path to the kitchen was carved out from his early years.
"My mother, Ina Benjamin, died when I was 10 years old and three years later I had to take on the role of the chef of the house. My father, Edwin Benjamin and my two older brothers, Noel and Earl Benjamin, 21 and 19 respectively were working at the time and I was the only one home so I had to do the cooking," he explained.
Still, he did not consider cooking a career choice in his high school years when he dreamt of becoming a businessman. Then one day, at age 18, he cooked and his sister, Joan Latty, invited a friend for dinner. The friend was so impressed that she encouraged him to go into cooking and even went as far as getting him a job in the canteen at Shell gas company in Rockfort, east Kingston.
He was taken on as a kitchen helper responsible for washing dishes and cleaning the floors, but before the end of the week he was promoted to cook soup and season meats. Shortly after he became responsible for preparing whole dishes.
This encouraged him to do a course in general catering for which he received a diploma. He stayed at the Shell canteen for a year before moving on to West Indies Glass Company in Kingston. After two years he left to take up his present position as chef at West Indies College (now Northern Caribbean University (NCU) in Mandeville.
FROM DISHES TO UNIVERSITY
"My sister was a patient at the University Hospital (Mona, St. Andrew) and I went to visit her. Dr. Herbert Thompson, the president of Northern Caribbean University was there also
visiting. My sister introduced us and told Dr. Thompson that I was a chef. Dr. Thompson told me that they needed a chef at the school and invited me to come down for an interview."
Benjamin packed up and left Kingston to Mandeville because he was sure he would get the job.
"When I arrived at the school for
my interview I was told that Dr. Thompson was off the island and
no one knew anything about the
interview and they had already hired
a chef. I was disappointed but right away the Lord gave me an alternative idea. I decided to start my own little business."
Benjamin started to prepare meals from his home in Cedar Gardens, catering to bank workers and small businesses in Mandeville. He was a bit nervous at first, starting with 11 customers at Eagle Commercial Bank where his sister worked. By the end of the first week things were booming, he had 80 customers.
This went on for one year. In 1993 he did a promotion for Westico Bakery, Mandeville, which was so impressed by his performance they hired him. At the time Westico was owned by West Indies College and he was transferred to the main campus where he has remained.
FOOD PHILOSOPHY: Most people shy away from vegetarian food, but vegetarian food can look and taste just as good as regular meat.
COULDN'T LIVE
WITHOUT: I am not really a food lover although I love to prepare it. However, I love ackee and salt fish.
FOODS YOU HATE: Given my religious principles there are some foods that I do not eat such as pork and shell fish.
KITCHEN/CUPBOARD CONFESSION: People would be surprised that I have chicken in my kitchen because I specialise in cooking vegetarian dishes. However, I am not a vegetarian but I believe in living a healthy lifestyle.
FIRST FOOD MEMORY: After my mother died, the first dish I tried to make was brown stew chicken. In those days people used breadcrumbs as a thickening agent so I decided to use some breadcrumbs in my stew chicken. I grated the bread and some big piece also fell in. The stew chicken came out with a weird colour but didn't taste bad.
