SANDRA L BLOOD
bloodsandral@yahoo.com
“As a woman, happy wife of Gordon Berment, proud mother of Sacha, Gabrielle and Jonathan, and glamma to a beautiful granddaughter, Isla, I realize that I’m actually the matriarch of my family,” says Le Cordon Blue chef Debbie Wilson-Berment.
Wilson-Berment began developing a passion for food at age four and by the time she was 16 she was designing, baking and decorating cakes and presenting food, following in the footsteps of mother, an accomplished chef who taught culinary arts, and entertained at home on special occasions.
"She was a master pastelle maker with the signature authentic fig leaf. She helped mould my desired interest into the world of culinary arts,” she said.
Wilson-Berment migrated to the US and attended culinary school, an experience which she said "fed my immense passion for this culinary world. I learned the requisite skills of the trade needed to start my career, and succeeded at becoming a Le Cordon Bleu chef."
Determined to preserve her culinary legacy, Wilson-Berment established a business and set about finetuning heer skills as a "Picasso of the kitchen."
“Like him, I paint, sculpt and design stages, but of my culinary path,” she explained of her comparison with the legendary Spanish artist.
Exotic mango-lime dessert with whipped cream in Caribbean flavours.
Cultural diversity, especially of her birthplace T&T, is very important to Wilson-Berment and is often reflected in her recipes and menus, but she continuously works on boosting her brand.
“The world is such a melting pot when it comes to cuisines and culinary art that my branding agency, Aifos, will have it no other way. Therefore, blending my Caribbean flavours to enhance and incorporate food fusion interests me. My cuisine’s described as international cuisine," she said.
Apart from the common pairing of menus with wines, one of Wilson-Berment fusions involves beers, and because of her passion for supplementing flavours, her branding agency recently piqued her interest in a T&T beer for the first time.
Wilson-Bermentworked at one of Florida’s esteemed country clubs as an assistant pastry chef and also taught baking and pastry arts at a high school’s adult education program.
“It was a wonderful experience,” she said, as she looks toward achieving her next goal, a lifestyle and entertainment cookbook.
“I know it will be a long road ahead, but I’m so ready to take on new challenges. Life is a blessing and I have a lot to be thankful and grateful for, but my responsibility as the matriarch of my family is, and will always be, the single most important job I can ever have.
Pan-seared salmon topped with caviar, drizzled with aged balsamic glaze.
“Notwithstanding my children being employed in non-culinary fields, they still assist at every family occasion and can hold their own in the entertaining and culinary world. I appreciate all the different situations I’ve experienced, as they’ve jelled my character of strength, confidence, kindness, positivity and resilience," she said.
Wilson-Berment's latest product is the brand Sagajo (pronounced sah-ga-joe) created from the first two initials of her children’s names, as she presses on with her key professional goals "to satisfy everyone’s culinary palette and soar to stature unimaginable.”
Wilson-Berment can be contacted at debbieberment@gmail.com, or follow her on Instagram at Sagajo_
Roasted lamb with rice pilaf mould, sautéed zucchini and roasted red pepper sauce.