Caribbean Passion

Somewhere in Burnley, Sharmen Frith Hemmings is fulfilling her passion of creating beautiful, authentic Caribbean food and spices with her company Mama Shars Caribbean Cooking

Sharmen arrived in the UK with her daughter from the exotic Island of Montserrat in 1997, shortly after a volcanic eruption, which covered everywhere with ash. She found herself joining her Mum, who was already living in Burnley, Lancashire.

Unfortunately, the educational qualifications Sharmen had, were not recognised in the UK, so she set about re-educating herself and went back to college and university. Here she achieved a degree in Law and worked her way up to an Admin Supervisor at the Courts, then went back to University and studied a Masters in Social Work. She practised as a social worker for over 10 years. During this time her Mum became ill and had a stroke, Sharmen had to work part-time to care for her Mum, after training to be a personal trainer, teaching weight lifting, she received an injury and took some time out.

Sharmen found a passion for cooking and learned her skills helping her brother with baking at home. She started cooking some of her Caribbean recipes for her friends and they loved them and that is how Mama Shars was born!!!

In December 2017 she started food prep in Preston. Then in 2019 ahe hired a kitchen in Burnley. Everything in the kitchen was recycled and took her and her family 8 months to get it functioning properly. She started deliveries. Using leaflets and social media to advertise her business then Lockdown happened….this created a massive loss and set back!

She took this time to re-educate herself again and set about doing 3 diplomas in Food Production, Team Leading, Infection Control and Human Resources. In addition she learned how to set up Social Media and use Instagram to her advantage. She also kept herself busy doing The Lean Programme Diploma, which is geared up to not have any waste in food production... Now her business was all ready to run successfully.

Based in Burnley, although her shop is not open just yet, she has a mobile van and can attend any events or celebrations. Also, with her enthusiasm she has launched a new range of cookery classes, which you can join on Facebook or on Trybooking.com. Here you can learn how to create mouth-watering meals, using different techniques and culinary skills.

YOU WILL FIND HER AT: Yorkshire Dale Food Festival - 23rd - 25th July 2021 Preston Windrush Festival - 25th July 2021 Preston Caribbean Carnival - 1st August 2021 Read Cricket Club - Every Saturday from 2pm

Sharmen is also creative in another field… in 2000 she designed and made her own wedding dress. Her daughter was Preston Carnival Queen for 2 years and she designed and made all the costumes. From this she set up a business called Sharfrith Events where she does bespoke venue decorations, table cloths, sashes and chair covers, made to your own specification. You can find this on Facebook & Instagram.

What’s next for this vivacious, hard-working lady? She plans to write a book!

E info@mamashars.com N 07988 890974 F @mamashars I @mamashars

Look out for Sharmen’s regular column with us in the New Year!