Believe it or not, Matthew Howell did not always want to be a cook. If he had his way, he would have been a pilot. But God had another plan in store for the 22-year-old.
He told Barbados TODAY that after completing his secondary education at the Seventh-Day Adventist Secondary School, plans were in place to fly him off to tertiary school overseas to pursue pilot training. Unfortunately, due to financial reasons, that did not pan out.
On the advice of his father, he decided to take up a course in international cuisine at the Barbados Vocational Training Board.
There, he said, “I started to fall in love with cooking.”
The small business owner admitted that he had a rough start and had to overcome many obstacles to earn his certification.
“When I started, it was very horrible because I was one of the worst in my class at skills training,” he recalled. “I remember a time when the instructor asked me to take down frozen chicken and I took the chicken and dropped it into a pan of hot water and started to cut it up . . . that was a low point for me, but here I am now. Today, I have a successful business, Smok’d and Spice, and I have catered for a number of private entities and organisations.”
Howell added that his biggest challenge to date was not kitchen-related, however. In fact, he said it was finding opportunities to advance his career that did not infringe on his spiritual beliefs as a Christian.
“A lot of jobs do not want to compromise and I have lost a number of jobs because I refuse to work on my Sabbath. But God has brought me through my struggles and I have had success landing other opportunities to cater for understanding clients, and work at some hotels and restaurants. He has also afforded me the ability to juggle running my own business and working for someone else as well. Things can be a rollercoaster sometimes, but God is always by my side.”
Howell’s faith was also put to the test during the 2024 Junior Chef Cook-Off Competition held earlier this month. After being chosen as one of the ten finalists, he decided to drop out of the competition since the next round to vie for a spot in the final three was scheduled for a Saturday.
“When I approached Shondell John and Treisha Nelson from the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. with my concerns about the finals of the competition, they were very supportive and understanding. They tried to see if there could be another outcome regarding the date of the competition, but rules are rules. Also, there are a lot of factors that go into play to make these competitions come off, and, unfortunately, there was no other option.
“It was very hard; no one joins a competition to drop out. I was sad. But as the saying goes, if you don’t stand for something, you fall for everything. I drew on my experience from turning down jobs at other institutions and I was able to pull through,” the young chef said.
The Bourne’s Village, St George resident said religion plays an integral part in his life: “It helps you to discipline yourself and make good choices.”
In the future, Howell would like to become a sous chef and, in addition to his catering business, operate a food truck.
Looking back at his journey thus far, he said his mother Penelope Howell, a trained chef, and his close friend always played a supporting role in his life and he was grateful they always had his back.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
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