ENTREPRENEURS

SHAMIKIA BRUNCH FOR TWO

Chef WITH

BY TOBIAS

y name is Chef Shamikia, I’m a personal/ private chef living in Marietta Ga, I was born and raised in South side Jamaica Queens New York. I’m the owner of Brunch4two LLC. I am a wife and mother of a 4 year old beautiful little girl that keeps me on my toes, but doesn’t enjoy most of my dishes because she’s extremely extremely picky lol. M

What inspired me to become a chef? What inspired me to become a chef? To be honest with you being a chef wasn’t even in “my plan”. I had no idea what I wanted to be. I knew that I loved to eat lol and I knew that I enjoyed looking at beautiful dishes, and checking out food magazines and food shows but I can’t really put my finger on it. However there was this one time my older cousin gave me a recipe to make a peach cobbler (one of my favorite desserts by the way) and I remember telling her that it’s gonna come out messed up because I’d messed it up twice before. She promised me that this recipe was easy and that there was no way I could mess it up. Needless to say I made it one Sunday afternoon on a nice summer day and it came out absolutely PERFECT! From that day confidence was built , but me becoming a chef was still not in my vision. It wasn’t until that next year (2014 ) that I thought maybe I should dabble in cooking. I had people who loved the way I cooked and told me that I should try to my hand at culinary school. So I did. I moved from New York with really no plan scared of what may or may not be , and enrolled myself into culinary school within 2 months of me living in Georgia and well the rest is history.

What’s the inspiration behind your brand Brunch4Two? The inspiration behind my brand was simply me loving BRUNCH. I came up with name brunch4two in the midst of me having a conversation with my husband and telling him that when I was done with culinary school that I wanted to be a personal chef, but while still attending culinary school I should get my feet wet and find some clients that would allow me to cook for them. At the time I wasn’t working so I couldn’t afford to pay people to assist me so I said well I can cook brunch for couples. I can handle cooking for 2 people (keep in mind I was in my first year of school still new to this culinary world) so I put the name together just like that BRUNCH4TWO. I have yet to cook brunch for just 2 people and I’m not complaining about it.

What’s the best part about being a chef as well as the most challenging? The best part about being a chef in my opinion is how creative you can be. I mean you can literally do anything with food. Once you understand the way food is supposed to be cooked there’s absolutely nothing you can’t do with it. Also the best part about being a chef for me is the way my food makes people smile, it gives me ultimate satisfaction when I see my new and old clients thoroughly enjoying every bite. Food is a beautiful thing. Food has no boundaries. Being a chef has allowed me to say who I am on plate without me saying a word. Food is music to me. Food is an art. The most challenging part about being a chef for me is being away from my family when I have to cook for long periods of time the mommy/wife guilt creeps in and it kinda makes me a little sad, but I know I have a purpose in life and my purpose is feeding people and that mommy will always come back home once she pushes out the last course!

Tell us your favorite type of music to listen to when cooking? My favorite type of music to listen to when I’m cooking can range from Nina Simone , to Raphael Saadiq , to David’s , to Burna boy to Anita Baker , to Barrington Levy, to Emmavie , to Chris Brown to Summer Walker oh gosh I could go on and on, but right now in the kitchen I have to throw on Roddy Ricch and it has to be loud. That’s what I’m bumping in the kitchen that young boy Roddy Ricch. I hope he reads this article lol. . Name the one ingredient that you can’t live without? The one ingredient I must have at all times is garlic. No if ands or buts about it.

What’s the first dish you learned to make really well? The first dish that I learned to make was French toast. I was about 10/12 years old at the time My father taught me how to make my first French toast. He’s sinced passed on , but I thank him for giving me my very first cooking lesson.

What’s your favorite “food city” to visit, and what do you like to eat there? I know I may seem a little biased, but my favorite city to visit is New York. There’s nothing like New York, there’s food everywhere, New York is literally a city that never sleeps and neither do the restaurants. I love my corner store bacon egg and cheese sandwiches, my corner store chopped cheese sandwiches. New York has some of the best Spanish ,Caribbean , Mediterranean, Italian , Hatian food around . I can only speak about where I’ve been I can’t speak about the food where I’m going because I haven’t gotten there YET.

MY FOOD MAKES PEOPLE SMILE, IT GIVES ME ULTIMATE SATISFACTION WHEN I SEE MY NEW AND OLD CLIENTS THOROUGHLY ENJOYING EVERY BITE. FOOD IS A BEAUTIFUL THING. FOOD HAS NO BOUNDARIES. BEING A CHEF HAS ALLOWED ME TO SAY WHO I AM ON PLATE WITHOUT ME SAYING A WORD. FOOD IS MUSIC TO ME. FOOD IS AN ART.

Fill in the blank: Being a chef means

__________________________. Being a chef means no boundaries, no apologies, just be your creative self and have fun.

Past Clients and Catered Assignments

• Chef India of ChefIndia.co

• Commercial with “This is it BBQ” (food styling)

• Catered lunch for the set of BET’s “Being Mary Jane”

• Catered (Banana pudd’n) set of BET’s “American Soul”

• Catered Lunch for set of Starz Originals “Survivors Remorse”

• Catered for MIDTOWN COLLECTIVE Studios

How someone contact you for catering or to purchase your prodicts Go to www.brunch4two.com or follow us at www.facebook.com/Brunch4Two