Must try: the taste of invention

Shelly-Ann Inniss meets chef Javon Cummins, star of Barbados’s thriving culinary scene — and learns how he transforms some of his favourite local ingredients

Uncomplicated yet chic describes the offerings at the annual Barbados Food and Rum Festival. Outstanding local talent and homegrown produce are key ingredients of the epicurean masterpieces presented each year. Award-winning chef Javon Cummins is one of the youngest members of Barbados’s winning culinary team. He prides himself on staying true to his heritage by using familial traditions and local ingredients in his dishes, and at very elevated levels.

If something looks appealing, people gravitate towards it. Cummins’s mantra is “people eat with their eyes.” At a Barbados Food and Rum Festival event a few years ago, Cummins impressed patrons with his take on Bajan pudding and souse — a popular Saturday meal. When Cummins presented his version like a work of art — using chilled sous vide pork with a beetroot pudding, pickled gelée, parsley foam, and Scotch bonnet mango gel — no one believed the foundation was the dish thousands of Barbadians stand in long queues on countless Saturdays to devour. “I pushed it to another level to make it look appetising,” he explains. Despite the numerous awards and accolades under his belt, this was the moment his name became etched in my brain’s hall of fame.

The pudding in the Bajan version of pudding and souse is made with boiled sweet potatoes and seasonings. “Sweet potatoes are my go-to. If I need to do something and I’m not comfortable with it, I grab a sweet potato, because it is so easy to manipulate,” says the twenty-eightyear-old chef. Sweet potatoes can be mashed, creamed, made into flour, chips — you name it. Adding homegrown micro greens and edible flowers to enhance the appearance of the pudding and souse flaunted Cummins’s visual technique.

Cummins first became interested in cooking at the age of seven, and got more passionate as he grew older. He recalls buying recipe books, flipping the methods, and substituting ingredients to see what the final result would be. Perhaps it’s this burning curiosity and ambition that led him to become the youngest executive chef on the island three years ago, at Tapestry Restaurant on Barbados’s west coast. This is where his herb garden is planted, and where these fine ingredients make it onto his menu. Cummins believes the garden creates inspiration for his staff: “They feel a lot more attached to the food, since they can just pluck it and cook it.”

There’s no ingredient Cummins doesn’t love, because each one pushes him to evolve. Take coconut and lemongrass, for instance. In one of the dishes he presented at the 2016 Taste of the Caribbean competition in Miami, he made an ice cream using the combination — and won gold. Since then, this has become his signature dessert. He hopes it will enter the product line of a top ice cream brand someday. “I have accomplished a lot,” Cummins says, “and once in a while I pat myself on my back, although I am hard on myself. I always want to evolve.”

Javon Cummins’s chilled sous vide pork with beetroot pudding, pickled gelée, parsley foam, and Scotch bonnet mango gel

Javon Cummins suggests this Bajan menu to try at home:

Appetizer: Bajan soup (chicken, split peas, squash, pumpkin, herbs, sweet potatoes, and cornmeal dumplings)

Main course: braised pork with spiced sweet potatoes and island vegetables

Dessert: classic Bajan rum cake

The 2020 Barbados Food and Rum Festival, originally scheduled for 29 October to 1 November, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Keep an eye on visitbarbados.org for updates on next year’s festival