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CrossRoadsNews
October 2, 2010
Essence will be a guest chef at the Children’s Africa Ball in November; she said she also is working on a cookbook and a 2011 Healthy Eating Cooking Calendar.
Seventh-grader snags Top Jerk Chef trophy with veggie dishes By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
Twelve-year-old Essence Snowden was up against some very stiff competition – an experienced chef and three-time festival winner and longtime hobby cooks – at the fifth annual Atlanta Caribbean Jerk Festival last month, but was she intimidated? Not at all. For her entry into the Sept. 5 contest for Atlanta’s Top Jerk Chef, the Stone Mountain seventh-grader served up a spread of Jerk Lentil Patties, Jerk Kale Salad and Barbecue Jerk Tofu Kabobs and left all the competition in her wake. Along with the trophy, Essence walked away with the $350 grand prize. “It felt great,” she said. “It was really fun cooking for all those people.” Essence is the first child to be allowed in the contest, which requires contestants to be at least 18. She was allowed to participate after her mother, Queen Taese, waived all liability. Glen Simmons, the festival’s organizer, said Essence came out of nowhere to walk away with the trophy and bragging rights. Simmons said she is the youngest competitor and the first to do an all-vegetarian spread. For her to compete, Simmons said he required parental supervision. “She is a minor so we needed her parents to be there,” he said. “She did all the prep and work but they had to be there with her.” Simmons was both surprised and impressed when she walked away with the top prize from the field of five contestants. “What was unique about her presentation is that she didn’t do any meat,” he said. “Usually we get entries with meat and fish. Her presentation was also very good.” Essence, who is home schooled by her mother, says she has always helped around the kitchen at home but took up serious cooking about a year and a half ago. Her vegetarian and vegan creations were so tasty that a family friend sent her mother information about the Jerk Festival.
Essence Snowden, 12, of Stone Mountain, won tthe trophy at the fifth annual Atlanta Caribbean Jerk Festival lin September. She was the contest youngest competitor.
Essence persuaded her mother to let her enter the contest that seeks to crown Atlanta’s top jerk-cooking specialist. She even paid the $50 entry fee from cash gifts she got for her May 27 birthday. She researched “jerking,” which originated with the Maroons of the Caribbean island of Jamaica. The Africans, who ran away from Jamaica’s slave plantations and established
free communities in the island’s mountainous interior, waged guerrilla warfare against the British for 80 years in the late 1600s and early 1700s. They developed the mix of spices and peppers to preserve the wild hogs that they hunted for food. It is now used to flavor grilled meats, fish and vegetables worldwide. Essence, who is growing up in a vegetarian household and hasn’t eaten meat since she was 4, said she doesn’t remember what meat tastes like. She thinks her vegetarian and vegan creations are healthier anyway, and best of all, meat eaters also enjoy them. For her contest entries, Essence created her own jerk seasoning from Scotch bonnet peppers, allspice and agave nectar. She made her salad from dinosaur kale, a deep-green tasty kale. “It’s very nutritious and I love the taste of it,” she said. Her spicy raw salad was a hit with the judges as were other items on her menu. She fried the tofu and stir-fried red-, yellow- and orange-colored bell peppers for her kabobs. Essence said the professional chef who was one of the judges was very impressed with her dishes. “He brought others over to taste my entries,” she said. Essence is saving her prize money until she figures out what she wants to do with it. She was so encouraged by her victory that she is now considering becoming a chef. “I like mixing different ingredients to get different tastes,” she said. “I like that people enjoy the food I make. I enjoy how it feels when people like my food.” Her creations were such a hit, Taese said people kept coming to their table trying to sample them. “They thought we had food to sell,” Taese said. Fresh from her Jerk Festival victory, Essence will be a guest chef at the Children’s Africa Ball in November. She said she also is working on a cookbook and a 2011 Healthy Eating Cooking Calendar. But cooking is not the only thing on Essence’s plate. Mathematics is her top subject, and she is also an avid dancer and member of the Rakaba West Africa Ballet Company. She also writes poetry and crochets. The one thing that is not on her list is being a couch potato. “I don’t really have time to watch television.”