Paola Velez Instagram – My favorite part of working in a kitchen is being around wonderful humans with experiences uniquely their own. Some of the kitchen teams I’ve worked with, often had pockets of time to chat between prep work or when service was a bit slower than we’d hoped. During those moments I would make space for others to tell me about their lived experience. Moments that I hold near and dear to my heart.
One of those moments helped create this cookie. The bulla snickerdoodle was born of me listening to Cephas (who at the time was a bartender at a restaurant I worked at.)who would talk to me about his experiences as a child in the mountains of Jamaica and his experience with his afterschool snack- Bulla cake.
I would ask him about the smell, texture, taste. How did it made him feel? was it warmth? Happiness? Comfort? and every shift I would create a different sugary spice blend for him to try.
I realized that in order to replicate the snack of his childhood I had to create a new memory for Cephas. I had to push the boundaries of his memory and introduce an Americana vessel -the snickerdoodle cookie- I worked on this recipe for months before he finally said this is it. These are the flavors of my childhood.
Personally, I am grateful for moments like these because in the stillness of allowing someone to trust me with their memories; I often realized that my journey through the food world, isn’t always about my technical skills but about allowing the essence of humanity to be translated into these quick bites.
I hope that I’ve you’re reading this Cephas, know that I still imagine what the mountains of Jamaica look like and hope to see them one day. And that this cookie is a byproduct of your kindness and your trust to share your stories with me.
I hope that yall (dear reader) will like this cookie when you bake from Bodega Bakes. & I hope that you take a moment to listen to the lived experiences of those around you.
Happy Monday,
Chef P
#bullacake #jamacia #caribbeanfood #caribbeanstories #snickerdoodle #cookies #cheflife #cheflifestyle #cheftalks | Posted on 17/Jun/2024 23:20:21
