“Food brings people together on many different levels. It’s nourishment of the soul and body; it’s truly love.” These words of Chef Giada De Laurentiis epitomise the appreciation and joy Guyanese Cynthia Nelson brings to her cooking.
Cynthia, who is presently living in Barbados, says she does not only refer to Guyana as home but also Barbados as both places contribute in different and significant ways to who she is.
Cynthia is a business owner, blogger, lecturer, food columnist, cookbook author, and journalist. At an early age Cynthia learned to cook from her mother and aunt.
Cynthia brings a unique approach in chronicling her recipes that makes the reader feel she is right there besides you, sharing her stories and walking you through the paces in preparing every finger-licking-good dish.
Listen (read) her entice and challenge you to prepare turkey, a dish revered in the United States at Thanksgiving, but a meat considered dry and not worth the bother by many. But Cynthia will make you try because, “Oh man, stewed turkey is a very fine and satisfying meal.”
Her passion for cooking has influenced her travels through the length and breadth of the Caribbean. She is at ease in the kitchen preparing dishes that reflect the beautiful tapestry of Caribbean multicultural experiences and diversity- African, Indigenous, India, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Chinese, among others.
Cynthia creates dishes that represent the diverse culture of the islands.
She is the author of the cookbook “Tastes Like Home: My Caribbean Cookbook” which has a collection of over 100 recipes reflecting dishes from the islands of the Caribbean. The book also includes her personal experiences of forging and maintaining relations with family and others through food.
On her page she makes known her love for cooking and willingness to share her recipe with persons who contact her, “because that is what food is all about –sharing.”
“Disappointed in cornbread?” Cynthia makes you feel you shouldn’t because based on her experience “I love corn, you hear me? Love it! And in a variety of ways – roasted, baked, creamed, steamed, in a soup, in a salad, as a pie, or to just eat plain raw. I. Simply. Love. Corn.” How can you at least not be tempted to try it if not love it, after reading the passion, embrace, to which she brings to this staple?
Cynthia also had several articles and recipes published in various magazines, has contributed to Caribbean Belle (Trinidad), City Style and Living (Canada), U Magazine, and Christian Science Monitor and has a weekly column called “Tastes Like Home” in the Stabroek News.
She owns her own business, Taste Like Home. For more information check her out here: https://www.tasteslikehome.org/
And in spite of her packed schedule, Cynthia Nelson still finds time to mould minds in media practice, lecturing in Journalism at the Barbados Community College.
Source: the internet
