CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 30, 2021
Cooking at its best at Massiah #71 Village
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By Michel Outridge
BEING self-employed and being empowered as a chef was the best thing that has happened to Nadira Gildharry, a resident of Massiah #71 Village, Corentyne, Berbice. She works with herself from her home and prepare tasty, finger-licking foods and would sell it at her roadside food stall at Public Road, Cromarty Village, also on the Corentyne. The mother of seven told the Pepperpot Magazine that she first started out making dhal puri and roti on orders for people in the village and as word got around of her cooking she was encouraged to start preparing more dishes. As such, the small business blossomed and customers began asking for more and she would make at least five different dishes every day to sell. That day when the team visited, even though it was a very rainy day, the outdoor fireside was going with a pot of cassava and eggs boiling which would be used to make egg balls. Inside, the kitchen, a series of activities was ongoing, fried rice with fried chicken, potato wedges, pizza and channa was being prepared simultaneously on a four-burner gas stove. The vegetables and everything for the pots were prepared ahead of the cooking and things were moving swiftly because she had to be at the food stall for a certain time every day. The 45-year-old stated that cooking is her passion and she is doing what she loves and it makes her very happy to be busy and earning at the same time. “I love to cook, to be quiet and I don’t go anywhere except to sell food and keep to myself and I am comfortable with this way of life,” she said. Gildharry explained that at first, she used to sell in front of her house and later
Nadira Gildharry in her kitchen cooking various dishes
got the food stall at Cromarty Public Road where she relocated her food vending small business four months ago. She added that due to COVID-19 things got a bit slow in terms of sales but it is slowly gaining momentum and she is of the view she will cope. Gildharry stated that having a small business takes a lot of time to prepare foods but she doesn’t mind because working with herself is the best option since she had worked with food places as a chef and it was even more time-consuming. She had worked in Trinidad and Tobago as a chef
in the food industry for 10 years before she returned to Guyana and began working with several large food businesses but the shift system wasn’t going well with her and she quit. She talked things over with her husband and they decided to start their own food business, several years ago. Gildharry began making dhal puri and roti on orders on weekends and people began asking for more and she started to make other dishes and her small business turned into a catering one where she would make many dishes for special events, such as
Focus on the Village
Fireside cooking at Nadira Gildharry’s place
birthdays. “I would take orders for dhal puri and roti and if they want other dishes I would
also make it and they would collect same and I would earn,” she said. Gildharry would do some
barbeque on weekends and her husband and daughter SEE PAGE XI