John Besh Foundation's Chefs Move! Scholarship Program Looking for NOLA's Next Top Chef!

Business & Economy, Food, Louisiana/GulfCoast

April 24th, 2012

Are YOU New Orleans’ next top chef?

Were you born and bred in the Crescent City? Does GOOD food run through your
veins? Does your mama STILL criticize your signature Gumbo? Do you spend more time in the kitchen than any other room of the house? Do you love
New Orleans as much as you do cooking great food? Well then, YOU might
just be the next top chef to graduate from the John Besh Foundation’s
Chefs Move! program. That is, if you submit your application by next
Monday, April 30!

Southern Louisiana native son, world-renown chef and acclaimed restauranteur, John Besh teamed up last year with another lauded New Orleans chef and community activist, Jessica Bride, to create the Besh & Bride Mayor Scholarship within the newly-established John Besh Foundation and serve as one of the Foundation’s first two localized community
efforts. The story of the birth of the Besh-Bride Mayor Scholarship is
not uncommon… one New Orleanian with a vision simply needed a local
celebrity behind her plan in order to give it wings. When Jessica eyed
Besh at the airport one chance day, she approached him and gave her
pitch. Besh not only loved the idea for this culinary scholarship
program, but knew he needed fresh, forward programs for his new
Foundation, and this was a perfect fit. And the rest is history, or
HERstory, as this case may be…

Meet Chef Syrena:

Last year’s Besh-Bride Mayor Scholarship winner, Syrena Johnson – now Chef Syrena, is a young woman who certainly loves New Orleans. Born and raised in NOLA’s 3rd Ward, Syrena was attending public high school when Hurricane Katrina and the
subsequent floods forced her family to move to Houston. After attending
high school for some time in Houston, Syrena’s desire to return home to
New Orleans and re-connect with family and friends eventually found her
completing her diploma through adult education night school, as for
many, there really weren’t any decent public schools open to attend at
the time.

Having the chance to chat with Syrena about her
experience applying for the Besh-Bride Culinary Scholarship, winning it, and now living it, a significant piece to Syrena’s story adds another
fruit-filled layer to what is rapidly becoming a paradigm shift among
under-served and at-risk youth in New Orleans. Syrena has always loved
to cook. She says she has been interested in making tasty things for as
long as she can remember, but never really imagined herself as a master
chef. Cooking, and cooking well, was just something that came natural,
as she had a mom that was one tough cookie in the kitchen.

When
asked if there were any classes or programs or inspirations in high
school that drove her to pursue culinary arts training, Syrena said
unfortunately not. She says that in fact, there were very little career
guidance opportunities at her public schools, that if you were not cut
out to be a doctor or a lawyer, she only ever remembers career days that influenced inner city youth to become police officers, fire fighters or other similar public service people. Career prospects were very
limited, in her opinion.

So when Syrena returned to New Orleans
after Katrina, not only was she going to have to figure out a way to
finish high school, she was also going to have to get a job. One of her
two jobs was at Liberty’s Kitchen on S. Broad St. Though her position at Liberty’s Kitchen, a
full-service cafe and coffee house run by youth and other locally
disadvantaged residents interested in culinary arts and/or business,
paid no more that her other job at a fast food restaurant, she credits
her experience there as the main inspiration behind her motivation to
apply for the Chefs Move! scholarship. On her decision to stick with
Liberty’s Kitchen for so long, Syrena shrugs, “I had nothing to lose working at Liberty’s Kitchen – there was always more to learn. If I
hadn’t won the Chefs Move! scholarship, I’d actually probably still be
working there. It was great to grow with them.”

What made her job at Liberty’s Kitchen different than her job at the chain fast food restaurant? “They gave me an authority position,” Syrena says. “And it was Mr. Omar (Liberty Kitchen’s Program Director) who really
encouraged me to apply for the Besh-Bride Mayor Scholarship. I didn’t
really think I could win, I mean, who was I? I never even really had the best grades in school. But he said that I had the experience and the
drive so I should do it.” With some help from her mentors at
Liberty’s Kitchen, Syrena completed her Chefs Move! application, and
just a couple months later got a call that she would be on her way to New York City in just a few more months to begin culinary school at The French Culinary Institute and then finish out the following year as an intern chef with the Besh Restaurant Group back home in New Orleans.

Currently Syrena is half-way through her work-study program at the French
Culinary Institute, working at Lincoln Ristorante in Manhattan, living
in Brooklyn Heights and loving New York. Though she says she hasn’t even really had time to take in too much of New York’s cultural scene due to her intense school schedule, she doesn’t seem too put off by that. She
is all-talk about everything she is learning, the master chefs and
culinary experts she continues to have the opportunity to work with and
study under.

Moreover, she is blown away at the number of press requests that keep coming to her, “I mean, who am I? I’m nobody special. I just really, really love to cook and want to soak up as much as I can while I’m here.” However, she laughs, “I do want to try to win a few awards while I’m here. So I can take that back home.” (Author’s Note: I had to wait until Syrena finished a very important
dinner with the president of some important culinary group just to speak with her, by the way.)

How has the culture shock been, diving into the fast-paced New York City from Big Easy for Syrena? “Learning the subways was one of the first big things of course,” but “they run like clockwork, they’re so organized, nothing like the buses in New Orleans, so it’s easier.” She has also found common ground in the people she’s met. “It seems like everybody here knows at least one person in New Orleans, so that’s cool.”

Has being from New Orleans been an advantage in any way to her in the culinary world in New York? “Well, they know I love cooking New Orleans – style food, and I get to
experiment at school, which is something you really can’t do at most
jobs. Like right now, our next project is this buffet style course and
we’re doing a Cajun/Creole theme, so they already know I got this!”

What happens after Syrena completes her certificate from the French Culinary Institute? Back to New Orleans it is, and she is already speaking with excitement
about coming home (as most true New Orleanians do, of course) so that
she can share what she’s learned, continue to grow as a chef, and most
importantly she says, “to show people from my neighborhood that
anyone can do this, that I’m no different than them – no smarter, no
better, I’m just doing what I love.” Is there a restaurant in New Orleans she would like to work at? “Not sure. First I have to do my internship at one of John’s (Besh’s)
restaurants – probably (Restaurant) August, because I was already sort
of interning and working there before through Liberty’s Kitchen. I’m
also looking forward to seeing where some of my friends from the
neighborhood are at – I hear my friend from school Nicky Da B is really big now.” (Yes indeed, 3 fingers up for that 3rd Ward Bounce!)

So then, if anyone can win a culinary arts scholarship, why did Syrena win last year? “Honestly, I just really, really love to cook, and I just appreciate perfection
and greatness,” she says. “And of course the mentorship from Liberty’s
Kitchen. I am so thankful for this opportunity, it is still hard to
believe I’m here in New York now. I was so skeptical about it before,
because I had never heard of this program before, it just seemed too
good to be true and I only had fast food and cafe experience really.”

Keep up with Chef Syrena on her personal culinary Blog

Friend / Fan Chef Syrena on Facebook

Follow Chef Syrena on Twitter

What does Syrena’s success mean for New Orleans?

Aside from the personal and professional development experience in school and in New York for her individually, Syrena’s return home to New Orleans
later this year will perhaps be the most important part of the Chefs
Move! program. Many people, when given an opportunity such as this, do
not return immediately to their native communities to share their
new-found wealth. It is this aspect that creates the tangible potential
for change and positive growth in challenged communities from the inside out – through an inherent New Orleans cultural practice – a ripple
effect that makes the Chefs Move! program so influential. After all, how do they say? Everybody and they mama knows how to cook for real, for
real in New Orleans!

In fact, the long-standing (and world-renown) cooking traditions of the Big Easy raises the question, why would
scholarship recipients need to go to the Big Apple to learn how to cook? Emery Whalen, Executive Director of the John Besh Foundation, states that the
Foundation’s advisory board is well aware that too many of New Orleans’
youth (and adults) never leave the city, unless by force, and that
having a well-rounded, worldly experience in New York, the major
American hub for the restaurant industry, will allow scholarship
recipients the chance to gain this experience and take back with them a
much broader understanding of not only the culinary arts, but of
business and the world in general. Whalen says that the French Culinary
Institute was chosen for several reasons, one being that program
co-founder Jessica Bride is an alumni of FCI and coordinated the
institute’s participation in Chefs Move!, as well as of course the
popularity of French-inspired cuisine in New Orleans, based on its
heritage.

As for the “take with them” part, the Chefs Move! program has built into its scholarship the requirement of each winner to return home to New Orleans after completing their certificate in New York and not only intern at a Besh restaurant for several months, but that they remain working at home in New Orleans for at least 5 years afterward, so that their new-found knowledge and experience can be shared with more New Orleanians.

It is no secret that while authentic New Orleans food is a cornerstone of
the tourism industry and of the city’s economy in general, the very
people that invent a vast majority of these recipes are drastically
under-represented in New Orleans’ thriving restaurant industry. Even
today, the city’s vast African-American, Caribbean and Vietnamese
communities own or manage a very small percentage of its numerous
restaurants. An array of statistics reports present the Big Easy time
and again as the American city with the lowest-paid service industry
workers. An industry that never sleeps in New Orleans, which means
low-wage workers are hardly ever not working. As Whalen emphasizes, “There may be diversity in New Orleans restaurants, but it is not found in lead creative or managerial positions.”

The Besh Foundation’s Chefs Move! program aims to do their part to help remedy this situation with “this unique opportunity to effect change in the culinary industry in New Orleans.” Whalen herself is no master chef, and actually has no professional
culinary training, but her years as a public school teacher and work in
the non-profit sector were enough for her to witness the disparity of
education and experience among the city’s minorities, who are
responsible for a large portion of New Orleans’ famed culinary
creations. “We decided we needed to help put minorities in
leadership positions in NOLA kitchens in order to grow the rich New
Orleans cultural traditions and heritage there.”

Now in its second year, the Besh-Bride Mayor Scholarship, or the Chefs Move! program, recently announced that it is not only accepting applications for this coming year’s Besh-Bride Mayor Scholarship until April 30, 2012, but they will be awarding two scholarships this year – one in culinary arts and one in pastry arts. The application form is available on the ChefsMove.org website, along with instructions and further information on the Besh-Bride Mayor Scholarship.

Application Details:

The application requires the submission of a completed form, copies of
school transcripts, proof of at least one year of restaurant/kitchen
experience, two letters of recommendation, and a pledge sheet reflecting a tally of individuals who would contribute any denomination to a total goal of $500 to help send you to culinary school in New York, if you
were to win.

Reviewing the Chefs Move! application, it seems that
the competition is more about having a handful or two of people that
will vouch for your tenacity, honesty and aspirations in the culinary
arts more so than stellar grades or deep experience.

Who should apply?

Whalen says the Foundation is looking for scholarship candidates that clearly
exhibit a passion for not only food and cooking, but for New Orleans,
and that individuals with intense drive, motivation and a sense of
responsibility will stand out among the rest. She also notes that
because this program is so new and the word has not spread too far about it yet, being in the know early on and applying now will automatically
place candidates at an advantage, creating better odds of winning simply based on the fairly low number of total applications submitted.

Although the Chefs Move! program certainly advocates for at-risk youth opportunities, this scholarship competition is open to New Orleans minorities of all ages. That’s right, when you are 16 or 65, if you are a New Orleans minority
and you have a true passion for cooking, you are eligible! Applicants
who do not win this year are encouraged to enter again next year.

Get movin’ future master chefs!

- Jocelyne M. Ninneman

Jocelyne Ninneman is a Detroit refugee living in New Orleans and loving every
minute of it. She enjoys writing about the all the amazing things
happening in New Orleans that the world should know about, but often
does not.

Follow Jocelyne on Twitter @JMoneyRed

For more information on the Chefs Move! program, Besh-Bride Mayor Scholarship and to download the application, please visit www.ChefsMove.org and/or call 504-267-2119.

2012 DEADLINE: Monday, April 30

Winners Announced: Monday, July 2

*Special thanks to our friends at UrbanOrleans.com for helping us spread the word on this fantastic opportunity for future New Orleans chefs!

Do you have a family member, friend or neighbor that you think would make a great candidate for the Chefs Move! program? Please share this link and information with them!