Sylvia Hunt's Cooking: the legacy lives on

CHERYL METIVIER

Before there was the Food Network, and before there was cable television, there was Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT), the country’s only television station on which the cooking show, At Home with Sylvia Hunt was featured. On Monday evenings before the news, Hunt would prepare local recipes in her TV kitchen for a national audience. After years on the air, the show was eventually cancelled but Hunt's recipes were carefully documented.

Her daughter Diane Sambrano and grandson Christopher Sambrano are in the process of re-launching her recipe book, which has been out of print for almost ten years. The revised edition of Sylvia Hunt’s Cooking will be launched on May 10 at Mille Fleurs, Maraval Road, St Clair.

They told Sunday Newsday the book was first published in 1985, two years before she died. At the time of its initial publication, she established a trust that was intended to support her grandson Nigel, who had been in a critical accident. Before she died Hunt had asked her daughter to promise that she would ensure the book stayed in print so the royalties and copyright earnings would continue to go into the trust fund. In 2020 the Sambranos, having resolved all outstanding legal issues, put things in place to fulfil her wish.

“The challenges of the pandemic created some delays, but we managed to get the process going, retaining the services of a Barbadian publishing company, Miller Publishing,” they told Sunday Newsday.

They have since updated and modernised the recipes, with the correct units of measurements, and updated photographs.

“The assignment is to now re-introduce Sylvia Hunt to a new generation of Trinbagonians, and secure her legacy.”

Born on December 31, 1912, Hunt attended Bishop Anstey High School, and later City and Guild University, in the UK. She was described by her loved ones as a very disciplined, organised and entrepreneurial individual with a passion for experimenting with indigenous foods which she meticulously documented.

The Sambranos beamed with pride as they recounted many of the achievements of their matriarch they had witnessed in her 75 years of life. They both expressed relief and gratitude for the fact that she was honoured with a national award before her death. In 1986 she was awarded the Humming Bird Medal (Silver).

Her daughter recalls that while growing up, not everyone appreciated Hunt’s penchant for finding creative ways of using indigenous ingredients to develop her recipes and prepare the wide variety of local cuisine.

“As children we were often teased and heckled, and referred to as the children of the ‘sugar cake lady.”

She said at that time is was normal to live with a “very extended family,” being one of eight siblings and living under the same roof with her maternal grandmother, her mother’s aunt, her paternal grandfather and other people her mother would routinely adopt, mentor and assist from time to time. The older women shared an interest in the activities for which Hunt later become well known She said one time, while living in Canada, someone looked at her and recognised her as one of Hunt’s children and recounted to her the influence that her mother had had in her life.

Christopher remembers her as a stoic yet generous and proper disciplinarian, who was very independent.

“She was a great provider and she always encouraged us to be independent as well.” He fondly recalled one of her favourite sayings, “Every tub have to sit on its own bottom,” and how she admonished them never to engage in feeling sorry for themselves, but to “Get up and get.”

They said the concept of the “side hustle” was not strange to Hunt, who had learned to diversify her portfolio into several areas. Apart from her television appearances, she did catering from her My T Fine Novelty Cuisine store on Frederick Street, Port of Spain, did dress and hat-making, covered buttons, buckles and lampshades. She served as a councillor and an alderman in the Port of Spain City Corporation, she taught needlepoint, dressmaking, craft and cookery at Holy Name Convent, St Joseph’s Convent, the Catholic Teachers' College, Osmond High School and John Donaldson Technical Institute. She operated a guest house, and routinely assisted the nuns from Holy Name Convent by taking in the young women who had aged out of the system, mentoring them in preparation for moving on to start their lives independently. She was also involved in community work with Best Village.

Diane said her mother’s personality loomed quite large and it was therefore impossible not to be influenced by her. She continued the sewing lessons that she had learnt from her mother, and later when she travelled to Canada she obtained certification, and like her mom, returned to TT and taught at John Donaldson Technical Institute. She also continued the school her mother operated from her home, teaching floral arranging, curtains and drapery making, cookery, soft furnishings and dressmaking. Her sister, now deceased sister, had operated a catering service in Canada by the same name that her mother traded under in TT. Another one of her sisters became very adept at baking and cake decorating.

Sylvia Hunt worked hard at developing her skills and has left a legacy to TT – At Home, with Sylvia Hunt.

She has published three books: Sylvia Hunt’s Cooking; Sylvia Hunt’s Sweets – Proud Legacy of our people; and Sylvia Hunt’s Menus for Festivals.