A conversation with Chef Mireille Roc

In this bonus episode of The Moreish Podcast, Hema sits down with Chef Mireille to delve into her multifaceted background and culinary journey. Mireille shares insights about her mixed Caribbean heritage, her passion for cooking, and her experiences working in various culinary settings. The conversation covers the influence of diverse cultures on her culinary expertise, her stance on food authenticity and adaptation, and the importance of storytelling in preserving food traditions. They also discuss dealing with social media negativity and the impact of representation in the food space. To wrap up, Mireille gives a sneak peek into her upcoming projects, including a cooking course and more consistent content for her YouTube channel. 

Tune in to get a deeper understanding of Caribbean cuisine and learn more about Chef Mireille's exciting ventures.

Resources

Connect with Mireille on Instagram and TikTok

Chef Mireille’s website and recipes: https://globalkitchentravels.com/

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/jerk-sauce

Transcript

Hema: Hi, Mireille!

Mireille: Hi Hema.

Hema: We have a bit of a different episode today. It is going to be Q and A style with me asking you the questions so people can get to know you a little bit. 

Before I get started, Mireille has been with us for the entirety of season one of The Moreish Podcast, talking about food, talking about history, and with Mireille transitioning off and moving on to other projects, I thought this would be a really good time to get to know who Mireille is outside of the podcast, because she has a gazillion other things going on.

So Mireille, let's start with, tell us a little bit about yourself and your background. 

Mireille: I come from a mixed Caribbean background. Uh, you know, my dad's Haitian, my mother's from the Dutch Caribbean, Dominica, Barbados, and I just grew up with a lot of different, Caribbean influences. And so, and I think being exposed to so, and ethnicities, because with being from the Dutch Caribbean, there's part of my family that's Indo Caribbean, there's part of my family, that's Indonesian Caribbean, et cetera. And I think just growing up with so many influences and so many different cultures and foods and everything from a young age, it just made me so open, like, I'm not like, you know, like a lot of Caribbean people will be like, my Island's the best than this. Mine has the best. I never say that any country or Island's food is the best because I think they all have amazing things to contribute, whether it's to the global world in whatever capacity or on a culinary level.

And I just think. that we should respect and have appreciation for all the different countries that we come from and the countries of the world.

Hema: I agree. We, um, you know, through this podcast, you and I both have talked several times about through the research, learning more about the history and the people and the different people that have gone to or been brought to, whether by force or not, the different islands and it's really given me more of a respect for the Caribbean culture as a whole, but also the individual countries and the individual islands and their unique diversity and culture. 

So before we move on, I want to know a little bit more about you and your chef work.

Mireille: Okay. So let's see. Um, I I'll tell you just a little bit about myself. So basically I went a really traditional business route. Like I have a degree in like communications and theater, believe it or not. I double majored. So you see, I've always been a performer, so maybe that's why social media is something I have a love hate relationship with, but, um, but it's definitely, you know, talking and, and just engaging with people is something that I adore. But after working in advertising for several years, you know, cooking has always been my passion. Like I was the weird kid when I was like eight years old and I would go to the library and I would take out cookbooks and I would give my mother a list of ingredients she has to buy for me to try.

My parents were great. They ate whatever I made, whatever cuisine. They were just like, okay, whatever. So cooking has always been a passion of mine. And just like, you know, my Indonesian family from Suriname, would come to visit, and they would cook different dishes. You know, I experienced different dishes around my Haitian family, etc.

So when I got into the culinary world, and I went to a very traditional American style culinary school, where most culinary schools are based in French cuisine. And it really annoyed me that so many other places around the world, especially if you look at African cultures and Asian cultures have been around for millennium of years, long before French cuisine developed. Yet, French cuisine is the model, is the go to. So I just made it a point to educate myself, to read myself, to experiment myself. And that's literally how I became an expert in so many cuisines around the world. And like you said, reading history too, because history is directly linked to how cuisines develop. And so when I started blogging, which I fell into really just by accident, that became my theme and everyone's always like, Oh, you should niche down and niche down and focus on just one thing. But I'm sorry, I'm a Gemini. I can't. 

 Like, my interest needs to be in several places, and so I'm always going to experiment. Does Caribbean food have a special place in my heart? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean I can't experiment and appreciate other cultures and cuisines as well.

Hema: Absolutely. So you mentioned you went to sort of a very traditional culinary school after deciding that that was going to be your career path. Next career path. Did you ever work in hospitality, restaurants, um, anything in that culinary space?

Mireille: Oh, absolutely. I spent years, um, so I did have a few, I worked in corporate dining for a few years, then I worked at universities. I was a chef at a nursery school. I have, you know, for I love kids and I've always worked with kids. I've taught culinary classes as part of after school programs. And then for, you know, I've been blogging and working freelance for myself for many years now, and part of the freelance work, I used to work as a freelance chef or a freelance cook. So basically, which was great because it's just where whenever they need someone, they would just call you. Oh, you have time to go here for a few days. You have time to go here for a few days. And I love that because it gave me experience in working in so many different kinds of restaurants and establishments. And I would learn from people like, you know, New York is one of the most diverse people in the world. So sometimes I'm working next to a different, another cook and we're just doing a very, um, what's the word I'm looking for? Tedious task, you know, like, I don't know, cleaning artichokes or something for hours a day for a catering party.

And I'd be like, oh, where you're from? What's the most popular dish? And that's kind of how I learned about things from other countries. And then I would try to make it myself on my blog. And that's how I, that's why it's called Global Kitchen Travels because I, I explore the cuisines of the world.

Hema: You were talking about talking to other people and getting from them through stories and through conversation, uh, a little bit of insight into the kinds of foods that they eat, the kinds of recipes that they cook. And I was having a conversation with someone else last week about this.

And I think having verbal conversations, talking to people, learning about other foods and other cultures is really something that I hope that we continue to do more and more because in many cultures, they don't write cookbooks and recipes. A lot of the recipes are passed down through tradition. Like I will say growing up for myself, I learned to cook, and a lot of the recipes that I make are just based on watching my parents cook and not written. And so that storytelling, those conversations are so important to get the insight and the real feel for the culture that goes behind the food. 

Mireille: Piggy banking on what you said about how recipes aren't written down. So I had for years wanted to get, my mother made cake. My mother always makes cake, my whole life, birthday cakes. My mother made my cakes. And it's like a basic Caribbean spice cake, right? And one day I said, okay, we're going to get this recipe down.

I want to get it down. And it was torture for both of us. Because like, she'd like just want to dump something. I'm like, no, I need to measure it. How we didn't kill each other, but I was like, you knew the plan. I forewarned you that we had to measure it. And she's just like, you just put it in until it looks right.

Hema: Oh my gosh. 

Mireille: So it was tough, but I, do have it on my website.

Hema: I am with you, when, when I decided that I wanted to learn how to make pone, which I'm sure you know what that is. It's a slight, it's slightly different, uh, depending on which island you're making it from. I'm Trinidadian and my mother didn't have a recipe and it was just basically like, just put all these things together until it looks right.

And I was like, I don't know what looks right means. So I think a lot of the times for me, I have sort of stayed away from baking because it's so much more precise and I've, I've gravitated more towards cooking. But as I'm learning baking, I think I've experienced what you have is like, please, will you just slow down so I can write things down?

And, and at the end of the day, for me, it's been a lot of experimentation of, okay, so I think this is what it's supposed to look like. I will now take this away. But I don't have the culinary and chef background that you do, so I think, I think it might be a little bit easier for you to adapt some of these recipes. What do you think?

Mireille: Yes, because even like when I look, like I have some really old cookbooks, like there's very few cookbooks written, now it's getting better where a lot of comprehensive cookbooks include it, but you know, my family comes from smaller islands, from Dominica, from Aruba. And I have some of the first cookbooks written on the cuisines of both of these places. And it's so funny because back in those days when they were written, you know, some of these cookbooks were written like 50s, 60s, 70s, like that era, you know, people used to cook at home so much and they just assume, you know things. I've got this one cookbook and it said, well, make a custard with the eggs and milk.

Well, if you don't know how to make a custard, you know how, and a lot of times I adapt these recipes for my website. And to tell you the truth, I'm not, it's not like I'm creating the recipe from scratch, but I'm just making it into measurements and procedures that people who don't know how to cook can actually follow it because they just assume you know how to cook, but maybe you just don't know the exact quantities.

And for a lot of people, especially people who are, may have grown up in America or Canada or the UK where they have Caribbean roots and they know of these foods, but because when you grow up in other countries, you have all these different influences, etc. It's not something that you're going to be making necessarily on a regular basis where you have that knowledge base.

Hema: Yeah, that's, that's really true. It's really important to understand, I think, too, that, um, as you talked about adapting some of these recipes or writing out the steps for something like making a custard, I think it also speaks to the fact that every family has their own slight nuances and ways of making a dish.

So, for example, I might make pelau one way, you might make it slightly different because that's just how your family grew up making it, but both are the same dish. They're both pelau. And I think that's part of sort of the Caribbean culinary world is we often will have slight variations in dishes and in recipes that are kind of all called the same thing.

And so to take it back to what you're talking about with a custard is as you're listing out those recipes for a custard, it may not be how another chef makes a custard, but at the end of the day, it still is a custard. I think that's really important, especially when it comes to, I'm going to sort of pull it back to Caribbean food is, in my opinion, I want, but I, and I want your opinion on this is there is no one right way to go about making. a specific recipe. 

Mireille: There never is. There never is. Yeah, actually, that's one of my pet peeves when people say, this isn't authentic, or I've never seen anyone do this, or my mother didn't do that. Well, that's your mother. Because I'm sorry, even you take one island, take Trinidad, and I guarantee if you go to 10 different people's houses and ask them to make curry chicken, there's going to be slight differences in each house.

Because maybe the person who's making it just doesn't like garlic. So it goes really light on the garlic or, you know, doesn't like, you know, doesn't like chandon beni, you know, and so, there's gonna be nuances based on personal preference and that doesn't mean it's wrong it's just different. Like for example, I actually do have a recipe for pone on my website and Oh my Lord the Bajans attacked me. The Bajans attacked me because, I'll tell you why because I put, and this is the way my Grandmother made it so this is the way I make it. I put a little bit of with the spices used, we always put a pinch of black pepper and my grandmother always did that.

And if you, and they're like, it's sweet. Yes. And maybe it's because I know culinary technique that's based in French cuisine too. You go, many desserts have a pinch of black pepper, especially things like spice cookies, spice cakes. It's not overpowering it, it's not spicy, but when combined with things like cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, those kind of sweet, smoky spices, it just kind of elevates it. And oh my God, these Bajans were going crazy. And I'm like, you do realize that Barbados is not the only island that makes pone, right? And there could be some variety there where just because you've never experienced it, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist because everybody I know from Dominica, we always put a pinch of black pepper.

That's the way my grandmother did it. That's the way I do it. 

Hema: The first time I made pone, because I'm kind of a lazy cook, I used my, um, my food processor to process down all of the root vegetables and ingredients, but it, it stayed chunkier. It wasn't like the nice smooth texture that I'm used to, and I don't put raisins in mine.

And the very first time I made it I was photographing it for my website and I thought somebody is going to come for me for the fact that this is like a chunkier, uh, pone and not super smooth. And it's always a fear with putting yourself out there, right? When you write for your website, when you put yourself out there on social media, people are more likely to comment when they have something negative to say.

How do you, how do you deal with that?

Mireille: At the beginning, it was very difficult. At the beginning, it was very difficult because I think it's just human nature. We could have a thousand positive and wonderful things. The one person that says something negative is going to stay with us. It's going to be affecting us. We're going to be thinking about it the entire day.

We won't be able to fall asleep that night thinking about this one stupid person who made this comment. Okay? But I think it's just from experience. You just have to learn to brush it off. And I think there are some people, first of all, it's easy to be anonymous and say things behind a computer screen, and I think they forget that there's a human being who's put their hard work into that at the other end of that computer screen. Number one. And number two, there are just some people who are just negative and have their own problems in life. And I don't know, want to spread negativity. And I've just learned to… now do something sometimes affect me? Of course I'm human, but you know, it's just something that I think from experience that you get better at. I mean, like I have a recipe for Haitian pate, so they're basically like our, one of our forms of meat patty, but it's baked, like we use like a puff pastry kind of dough, and it's baked, okay? And so you always, most people will brush it with milk, right? We'll brush it with milk, um, just to get it that golden color, you know, when it's in the oven.

 And when I do my recipes on my website, even if I make a slight change, I put my recipes exactly as I performed it. So what happened is, when I was doing this recipe, I didn't realize I had run out of milk, but I had some heavy cream. Dairy is dairy. It's just to give it colour.

That's all it is, right? Know someone…and it's always your own people. It's always the people from thing didn't take time to write like a three paragraph email to me explaining how I don't know anything and I don't know what I'm talking about, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, just because I replaced heavy cream for milk just to brush the tops of the dough.

Hema: You know, you're right, is people will often, when they're, when they have something negative to say, they're, they're first to write. Oftentimes, they're more likely to write something negative. And I think just to do this work that you do, that I do, to put ourselves out there in social media, on our website, on the podcast, requires having a thick skin, right?

And it doesn't mean that it doesn't get to me sometimes, but on social media, on TikTok, I I did a little video on making sea moss gel, with sea moss that I got from Trinidad that I bought at the market in Trinidad. And then I bought sea moss here, like dried sea moss here in Toronto, but that was from Trinidad.

And I cannot tell you how many people told me that that was not real sea moss that it was fake. And doing a little bit of digging into who they are, it's because they are selling a product and they want people to go to them versus, you know, the inexpensive way that I showed people how to make it themselves at home.

So there's, there's motivation sometimes behind what people talk about, um, and sometimes they're just miserable people.

Mireille: Oh, yes, I like at my website I have all of my comments where I have to approve every last comment because people will just come out and say just the most off the wall things and acting like I haven't you know, I know you as I'm I when it comes to a culinary and you in history are sticklers for research and sticklers, you know, it's not like we invent these things out of our head, you know, and there are all these internet experts who've never read a single book on any of the subjects. And yet they swear they are experts in all of that. And like, on TikTok I get this a lot and I go back and forth with them about three times. Three times is my limit. After that, I stop responding. And if they start getting personal, I block them because I'm like, you can debate me on an issue. There's no reason to get personal attacking people's looks or whatever, you know, even when they're arguing with, even when they're arguing with each other and it's not directed at me personally, I'm like, if you do not have the intelligence to debate an issue with act without attacking people on a personal level, Oh, I am the queen of blocking people. You have no idea how much people I block.

Hema: You know….

Mireille: I, and, and, and sometimes I block them, even though, like, I was talking to, like, experts will be like, oh, that's great, that's engagement, da da da. But if some of the comments, if it can affect me in my mental state, like, you know, and I'm like, it is not good for my mental health for me to see that comment every single time I look on that post.

So I don't care what it does for engagement. I will delete it, because I have to protect my mental health. And if that's going to affect me, I delete it.

Hema: Yeah, that's a good, a good sort of rule of thumb engaging with them three times and then that's it, right? Because you give people a chance and then if they continue to abuse the situation or abuse you verbally or someone else, uh, they've lost their, they've lost their chance. Cause it's your platform. 

Mireille: Absolutely. 

Hema: I do the same. I will give people an opportunity. I will, I do not hesitate to delete rude comments, um, or just block people if, if I see that they're just trying to stir the pot, and sometimes I will be honest, I just say, if they make a comment, I might just say, thank you or I appreciate it to shut down conversation right? So you've had your say. I'm going to say thank you for your, for your comment. That's not an acknowledgment of you being right or wrong. I'm just appreciating that you took the time and sometimes that will shut it down.

Mireille: That's a good, that's a good, uh, uh, method as well.

Hema: So, you know, sometimes people just feel like they need to be heard. 

So I want to, I want to talk about something that we have addressed way back in the early days of the podcast, but now that we're talking about your work, now that we're talking about your website, Global Kitchen Travels, I want to readdress something that probably is affecting the traffic on your website. I know it has affected mine, is there's been a lot of changes with Google. That's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is the people who have bigger platforms, who make a version of a Caribbean recipe and are getting the traffic because they have a bigger website, a bigger platform, whatever.

Mireille: Okay, so I don't object to people making food of other cultures because I do it. You know, that's kind of what my whole brand is about. But my problem is when people misrepresent the culture and don't do their research. Okay? To me, that whether you outrank someone else who is of the cuisine. It bothers me on a very minor level because, it's a business, that's what blogging has become. So if you're presenting a recipe, you have to learn what SEO is and learn how to write for SEO and how to, and if you learn how to do that and make Google happy, you should rank, maybe you won't rank number one, but you'll definitely be on that first page.

And that's what you need, you know, and you have to do all the things to make yourself rank higher. If you want to make it into an income generating business, you have to treat it as a business and do some things maybe that are annoying, that's not your forte, but you have to figure it out and learn how to do it. 

But my problem is with people who represent recipes of other cultures, is do your research. Don't, like, just look at one person and it's like, Oh, okay, I'm gonna do this person. And especially if the person that you're using as your guide is someone who is not of that culture.

How are you using someone, like, for example, and I'm not going to mention her name, because she's a very, very popular blogger, but she has a recipe for, Caribbean brown stew chicken where she uses ketchup. And I've seen several, and it's all recipes made by African American people, and they're all using ketchup in their brown stew chicken So probably one person started it and because they already are a popular blogger with, you know, a high DA, domain authority, et cetera. You know, they became the model then other people followed after them. It's things like that where I find if you're going to do it, then do it. I don't have a problem with you doing it, but do your research so that you're presenting it as authentically as possible. 

Hema: I think in that case, in that specific example, is it then muddies the waters in terms of what is stew chicken. Now, I'm going to call it stew chicken because that's what I grew up calling it. I know you said brown stew chicken. But it muddies the waters, right? And then no longer are people making stew chicken, they're making an adapted version of stew chicken, believing that that is the real recipe.

And I think that's something that comes into play as well, is it's okay, in my opinion, to make some adjustments to recipes based on your own taste, based on what you have available to you. But I think then you need to make it clear that the recipe is adapted because of X, Y, and Z.

Mireille: Exactly, like another thing that annoys me is when people like veganize something or make it gluten free. I have no problem you doing that, whether you've chosen those diets for whatever reason you've chosen it, but then don't say authentic vegan oxtails. How is that authentic in any possible way? You know, like me, I adapt recipes.

I have I'm allergic to tree nuts. Any recipes that use tree nuts, I'm going to omit it, or depending which nut it is, I can handle it in very small doses. But then I say that in a recipe, you know? Like, I have a recipe for Mexican wedding cookies on my website, which uses a lot of nuts. And I reduce the amount of nuts in my version by two thirds because otherwise it's too much nuts and I can have a reaction. But I say in the recipe authentically that, you know, this is how it would be done. You can, you can use this amount, which would be the traditional amount. But because, you know, I have enough sensitivity to this nut, I reduced the quantity.

I have no problems. Look, we all make certain food choices, whether it's for medical reasons or, or just our own personal outlook on life. And that's fine, but then you cannot say this is a traditional method. This is an authentic method if you're adapting it to your own dietary requirements. 

Hema: The thing is food can be so personal. Um, and that's okay. It really is. But I think it's a matter of being clear with the fact that you are adapting something, or that you're taking inspiration from something. The other thing that we've talked about, uh, Mireille is, is the representation in the food space.And I think this kind of tags onto what we're just talking about… 

Mireille: There's a lot to that being said. And also we cannot forget that there is also a big issue with appropriation. There's, you know, the, it's just the fact. And so there are a few people who are to try to do it respectfully when they present foods of other cultures, but yes, we are considered very niche and not just niche. Like with brands or corporations that may look to us for representation, they basically have one very specific version of what we should be like, or what, um, our, or even what our appearance should look like. Where, mainstream American, and I'm, I'm sorry, but it's mostly white people that fit into this, where they can have diversity. They can have diversity of looks. They can have diversity of personalities, you know, diversity of, of thought, of outlook. But when, but when it's, whether it's an African American black person, or whether it's a person like us Caribbean of other cultures, they have such a very specific view of us. And if we don't fit that cartoon character of what they've decided, a black person from Jamaica, whatever, should be like, look like, et cetera, then you don't fit their, whatever, their ideal you know, their representation or whatever, you know?

Hema: I do. Mireille, I don't want to take up a ton of your time, so I'm going to shift a little bit in our conversation to, some of your favorites. If that's okay? So I would like to know what is, just in terms of the process of cooking, what is your favorite recipe to cook? Or to make? Maybe it's not even cooked.

Mireille: My gosh, this is so hard. Whenever people ask me what's my favorite dish or my favorite thing, it's so hard because it just depends what mood I'm in. And you know, because I've had so many influences, oh my God, it's just so hard. But I think there is nothing in the world like black cake. I'm sorry. There is nothing in the world like black cake.

Hema: Okay

Mireille: And for me, a Christmas without black cake is not Christmas. 

Hema: And Black Cake, take some planning with soaking of the fruits. You need to know ahead of time that you're actually going 

Mireille: Mine are soaking all year long. Mine are already soaking. Cause every year when I make it, then I just put the fruits for the next year to soak immediately. So mine are always soaking a whole year in advance.

Hema: Honest to God, my mom used to do that. This, you know, it was like she had this container of fruits that were soaking all year long and I don't even know what alcohols she used, but there was this one container that we knew that was the fruits for black cake. 

 What is the, your favorite recipe or meal to cook for yourself?

Mireille: My favorite meal or recipe to cook for myself. These things are just, I mean, like I said, well, I actually love pelau. So pelau is one of those things I definitely, to me, that is ultimate um, comfort food. I did grow up with an aunt from Tobago and my mother has always made pelau. So even though we're not Trinidadians, yeah, I love pelau. That's something that I can eat anytime, any day. I mean, I also love Indian food and I mean regular, straight up Indian food, not Indo Caribbean food. And there's lots of amazing Indian dishes. Like there's this dish I love called Tellicherry Pepper Chicken and it's so easy and you just basically make this masala, but the main ingredient is actually pepper black peppercorns. And then you just boil the chicken in this simple masala and it is so easy and it is so delicious. So I love all cuisines and it just depends what mood I'm in. 

Hema: Um, if you are cooking for guests, what is your favorite thing to make?

Mireille: You know, you are just, these questions, my favorite anything is just so hard. Um, what is my favorite thing for guests? Um, okay, well, first of all, you know, it's not on my website, but I make, I've been making it for like years. I make an amazing tiramisu, and everybody always loves my tiramisu. So tiramisu is definite, like, like for desserts, like if anyone says, Oh, what's, like, whenever I'm at a quandary, I'm always going to make a tiramisu. I love, and I only like the way I make it. I'm sorry. I cannot, or once I learned how to make it, I cannot order tiramisu in a restaurant. I'm sorry. I never think it's as good as mine, or they'd be doing some weird, innovative stuff that I know isn't traditionally Italian, so it annoys me. Another dessert that I love that I make often that a lot of people love is a Greek dessert called Galaktoboureko. And it's basically like a semolina pudding, but then you put it in between layers of phyllo dough. Then you bake it. Then as soon as it comes out of the oven, you cover it with a syrup, like an orange flavored syrup, that's laced with ouzo, which is an anise flavored liqueur. So that's definitely one of my favorites.

Hema: Mireille, is there anything you would like people to know and understand about Caribbean cuisine?

Mireille: I want people to know that it's so diverse. We are so multicultural. You know, even a place like Haiti and I'm half Haitian, you know, the media has this very small defined look of what a Haitian person is supposed to look like, what their ancestry is supposed to look like, you know, there's a whole region of Haiti, where half of the people have Polish background.

You know, and so there are all the, I think it's just the diversity. We're more than curry and roti, and we're more than jerk chicken, and there are so many unique dishes to each island, and we all have, yes, there's some similarities, but we all have unique cultures, unique languages. You know, there's just diversity of people, which brings diversity of cuisine.

And I think so many people just put us into these small little boxes and I also just think people just don't know enough, you know, people think that the Caribbean consists of about four islands and you say you're from any other island. They're like, Oh, is that in Jamaica? No, it's not.

 I did a TikTok last week, basically, just saying that although the roots of curry come from India, and I specifically said the roots of curry come from India, the way it's changed in Jamaica, now makes it a Jamaican dish. The way it was changed in Trinidad. Now makes it a Trinidadian dish and part of Trinidad's national cuisine.

 And all of these people started attacking me. Put it this way, there were, there were both, remember what we were saying? Both, there were both sides. I had a lot of people agreeing with me, but of course the things that stays with you is the negativity. 

And why are you trying to, um, take away Indian…why are you saying that it's not an Indian dish? Well, oh my gosh, like I clearly said it came from India and like they're just hearing what they want to hear. A lot of the comments I was receiving was rooted in anti-Blackness because I'm sorry, you go to someone like Trinidad, Indian people, Black people, Chinese Trinis, every kind of Trini is going to be making curry. It is not just an Indian dish. It's not just Indian people anymore because when it was came there, then it gets influenced by all the other cultures that the people came into. So no one is denying its history is in India, but the way it's changed now makes that a Trini curry, now makes that a Jamaican curry, because if they were all just Indian dishes, they would all taste the same and neither of them do. 

Hema: Mireille, this has been so much fun connecting and talking about things that are more in line with what you're working on and some of the other sides of who you are. Before we wrap up, let's talk about what you are working on and what's coming up for you. 

Mireille: Well, I'm working on my blog, handling these Google updates, you know, doing a lot of updates and I am going to be kind of, even though I've been sporadic, kind of relaunching and getting more consistent with my YouTube channel, so, and building a cooking course. So those are just a few of the things I'm going to be working at, um, in the next, uh, few months.

Hema: A cooking course, that's exciting! Do you have like a signup list or should people just keep an eye on your socials for when you're launching that?

Mireille: Yeah, you could you could keep an eye on my socials and through my website you can also sign up for my newsletter. So you can sign up for my newsletter and that way whenever I have any announcements you could also get it directly in your email.

Hema: I'm not going to ask you too much about it, because I'm sure, you know, in the beginning stages, as we know, plans can sometimes shift and change. If you say it now, and you make a change, somebody is going to get upset about it, so…

Mireille: Exactly exactly, you know, yeah right now I've just been recording so much content over the past several months actually and now it's just about editing it all for YouTube.

Hema: You were, doing some cookbook reviews, I think, or judges? Or judging? Is that still happening?

Mireille: Yes, so I'm all I'm a James Beard judge. This is the second year in a row. I've been a James Beard judge. I really can't tell you what category or anything yet for this year because, the we're still in round three of the judging so that I'm not influenced we can't say anything about any books we tried for the current year until the winners are actually announced.

Hema: A cooking course and judging cookbooks. That sounds really exciting! Mireille, if people want to keep up with you and what you’re working on where can they find you?

Mireille: Sure. So I am Chef Mireille all over social media, I'm most active on Instagram and TikTok and you can also end my website globalkitchentravels. com, you know, sign up for my newsletter and stay up to date that way.

 I just wanted to say really quick, Hema, it was such a pleasure getting to know you throughout the first season of the podcast and I actually fell in love with doing all of the research.

You know, even though I knew so much about the Caribbean, I learned so much. So much as well and even if I'm no longer directly involved, I will always support it and I wish you great success in whichever pathway you choose to grow The Moreish Podcast. 

Hema: Thanks so much Mireille.  And that is a wrap for this bonus episode with Chef Mireille. If you haven't listened to season one of the podcast, go back, there's a lot of great content and a lot of great history in those episodes. We have a few more bonus episodes coming up before we dive into season two. So keep an eye on our socials at The Moreish Podcast on Instagram and TikTok to find out what's coming next.