Local chef needs votes in US Favourite Chef competition

FAITH AYOUNG

PAULA LINDO

Trinidadian-born chef Josette Thomas is now a few weeks away from the opportunity to expand her roti business RotiMama out of her community of Atlanta, Georgia, through the Favourite Chef competition presented by celebrity chef Carla Hall.

Moving forward in the competition is done through popular voting, with the next round happening on July 11, ending at midnight.

Winning the competition would give her US$25,000, an appearance on the cover of Taste of Home magazine, a US$90,000 photoshoot and an opportunity to cook with Hall.

Because the competition is a voter’s choice competition for non-formerly trained people working in the food industry, Thomas understands that her opportunity and her first-place position stand on the shoulders of the community that raised her, as well as her loyal and cherished supporters who want to see her business take flight and really grow.

People can vote for Thomas at https://favchef.com/2024/josette-thomas.

Thomas said she wants to create the experience of a fine dining approach to roti.

“Due to the type of competition, there is a much deeper interest in plating. The trends in food display have come away from tall and stacked displays, to the use of the whole plate, where the food is spread out and the displays have a lot of sauces and squishes.

“Plating technique is a lot of art. The competition has additional tips and training to help us hone our skills.”

Thomas said she grew up in Santa Flora with her parents and seven other siblings with an understanding of togetherness around food.

“Roti brings people together. That exact feeling, which was curated at home, was echoed throughout the community, seeping into the one thing capable of bringing people together, food! My brother Kern, who is now a professional chef, taught me out of his passion for food, beginning about age ten. However, most of it was self-taught and a self-discovery.”

She remembers making breakfast on Sundays with her sister for the family and going to Marabella market at 13 years old to buy produce to cook.

Thomas grew up in an entrepreneurial family who had a passion for food. Her grandmother, whom she considers a pioneer of preserved mangoes industry, ran a very successful business called Gladys, also known as GT’s which was popular from the 80’s to the 2000’s.

Fields of mangoes would be bought and prepared to store. She grew up watching her grandmother who would have been in her 70’s at the time, chop up thousands of mangoes to store away for the end of mango season in order to keep the business running.

Thomas inherited that entrepreneurial spirit. At 17, she worked out of her grandfather’s shop, created a pizza business at 19 and then studied tourism management.

Thomas lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where she decided to stay and run her business because of covid19. In 2018, she went there for six months following the Atlanta Carnival.

“I got an opportunity to be the only vendor selling food on private property so I was able to make a mark on the tastebuds of many people.”

Thomas said RotiMama is roti with a spin. It’s a one-person business where she sells freshly-made kurma, and always has frozen roti skins of different flavours. As well as dhal-puri, she sells fried plantain-puri, soul-puri containing black-eyed peas, and others. She caters for events and ships food throughout the US.

She said she was inspired by roti-making mothers she grew up with. She said she has been supported by repeat customers who spread her praises by word of mouth.

“They were leading pioneers of melt-in-your mouth roti. It is very much about community, nurturing and culture as the mother figures I’ve known are about nurturing communities across the nation.”