Compton knew about the ultra-competitive and stressful nature of the competition, but she felt Top Chef was an opportunity to feature Caribbean food in a positive way
Two years later, she returned to St Lucia and contemplated her next steps, but she knew that university was not for her. It was cooking the Christmas meal for the family with her granny that helped her to decide she wanted to enter the culinary field. “I remember seeing the reactions, how happy my family was . . . and I told my mom, ‘I think I want to cook.’”
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er mother sensibly warned her about the arduous life that chefs endure — the long hours, the stress, and generally not having a social
life. Realising it was something she was intent on trying, Compton’s mother helped her get a job in the kitchen at the Sandals resort in St Lucia. After a year of working her way around the kitchen, Compton started feeling “stuck,” she says. She requested a transfer to Sandals in Jamaica, where she “had a blast,” but after two years, that familiar feeling of being stuck returned. Advised by her head chef to attend culinary school, she applied and was accepted to the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York City. While
there, she made up her mind to work at one of the top restaurants in the city. What followed was a period in the early 2000s in celebrated chef Daniel Boulud’s “intense” kitchen. Under his exacting chef de cuisine Alex Lee, Compton built a strong foundation for the future. Put off by the New York winters, Compton set her sights south, and applied to work with Norman Van Aken in Florida. The so-called “founding father of New World Cuisine” was a trailblazer for his use of Latin, Caribbean, Asian, and African flavours, and this was a huge draw for the young St Lucian. “He was cooking with a lot of tropical ingredients and he was doing stuff that I wouldn’t have thought of. He was using yucca [cassava], conch, and ingredients nobody else was using.” Fast for ward to 2013: Compton’s growing reputation as a brilliant chef is cemented after stints at several top restaurants in Florida. Cable television channel Bravo calls, and asks her to be a contestant on season eleven of the series Top Chef. Anyone who has watched the show knows it puts the competing chefs under the microscope in a pressurecooker environment. Top Chef’s history is littered with a trail of chefs who simply cracked under the pressure. Compton k new about t he u ltracompetitive and stressful nature of the competition, but she felt Top Chef was an opportunity to feature Caribbean food in a positive way — and, of course, bring attention to St Lucia. “It was one
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