Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christopher Sinclair McCalla. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Christopher, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we talk about all of your success, let’s start with a story of failure. Can you open up about a time when you’ve failed?
I’ve been cooking professionally for about 11 years now and one of the things I’ve learnt on my journey to success is that failure is a big part of the journey. You have to be able to overcome failure and learn that it’s not the end but the beginning of the next page in your life.
When I was younger I used to taste foods and be able to pick out the flavors in an effort to replicate them. It was one of the most illuminating things to me because food started becoming my passion when I was 12 years old.
When I was 16 I tried to replicate Cinnamon rolls. The only dough I knew how to make at the time was the dough we used to make fried dumplings in Jamaica. If you’ve ever had a Jamaican fried dumpling you know those aren’t to be baked. When I baked the cinnamon rolls using that dough it could literally bounce off the walls. This forced me to learn about yeast and it’s role during the baking process. My perfected Cinnamon Rolls are now a crowd pleaser.
Christopher, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started cooking in the kitchen when I was 12 years old in Kingston,Jamaica. Family tradition meant weekly family suppers. On the rare evening when my parents were too busy to cook, they allowed my sister to prepare the meal on her own — with the condition that the kitchen was off limits to me. After an argument with my sister, she prepared the usual steamed fish dish while I had no choice but to prepare my own version, complete with a Jamaican jerk seasoning that left my parents sniffling to find the source. They became speechless at the dining table, and despite being myself being grounded for using the stove, this sparked my culinary journey.
Since then I’ve been experimenting and creating my own dishes ever since.
While culinary skills produce creative and delicious dishes, my expertise draws from a different passion — and education.
I received culinary training at the University of Technology, Jamaica but my degree was a BSc in Dietetics and Nutrition because I found a passion in looking after people’s well-being through food. I started my catering business when I started University. At this point I wanted to create food that was different.
Chefs know how to make food taste great, and nutritionists know how to be healthy and get peoples’ lives back on track, so I wanted to combine both of them.”
With the knowledge I gained studying nutrition paired with my creativity in the kitchen, my brand of cooking is through health fusion food. I consider myself a health fusion chef that creates food with lower calorie content with higher nutrient density.
It’s not about taking the enjoyment away from eating. Rather, my goal is to eliminate the worry of eating while teaching skills that allow people to still indulge in their favorite foods. But it’s about more than healthy eating — or even delicious food. It’s a lifestyle.
As a young chef i held multiple jobs in the industry, giving me the experience to grow and opening doors for me to cook for many influential people and win impressive awards like a Jamaica Observer Food Award, an exclusive event that honors those in the hospitality industry. I was also nominated for the Prime Minister’s National Youth Awards for Excellence in the category of Arts and Culture at age 24.
Nevertheless I felt I put my foot in every possible culinary door in Jamaica in terms of being featured in all forms of media, doing exclusive events, catering for weddings and other large government events, so I felt like I was starting to get comfortable.
I currently reside in New York where I work as an executive chef, recipe developer, food stylist and culinary influencer .
What I do now didn’t happen overnight. While I cultivated a diverse and rich culinary experience in Jamaica , like many immigrants, I was confronted with the need to prove myself upon arriving in the Big Apple.
A lot of the places you go to in New York, they’ll ask you, ‘What’s your New York experience?’ Even though they had my résumés, it didn’t really matter what I did in Jamaica — the different awards that I received, who I catered for — they all just cared about what my New York experience was. Since it was nothing at the time, most places wanted me as a dishwasher. So that was kind of a hit for me.
As a result, I began to build a movement and social following. My audience sits at over 100,000 today following along not only to receive my exclusive recipes and cooking tips but also to take in my philosophies and positive outlook.
I credit the support of my mother as well as God during the ups and downs of learning the ropes of entrepreneurship. I’ve recently just finished and published my website containing nutrition classes as well as recipes that my supporters from near and far love with Jamaican dishes influenced by flavors from other countries as well as foods loved from other cultures. I’m also the Executive Chef at a Caribbean Fusion Restaurant, Bar and Lounge in New York.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Being yourself. Many people live by faking it to make it but I feel as though creating authenticity with your brand and yourself rewards you with a following/ group of supporters that believe in what you do.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
My audience on social media came from applying different strategies. Sometimes if there is a new trend that I can apply to food I’ll jump on that train, other times I may try reinventing a trend. Being relatable is a huge thing nowadays so that is step #1. You have no idea what others are going through so sometimes sharing a story in your feed or highlight can really resonate with people.
In Jamaica we have a saying “ every Mickle mek a muckle”, which means that every little thing you do adds up to something. I take that into my finances as well as my goals. Not all steps you take in the right direction will be big steps; some will be small and some may be microscopic but 1 step in the right direction is still closer than you were the day before.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.chrisskitchen101.com
- Instagram: Www.instagram.com/chrisskitchen
- Twitter: www.tiktok.com/@chrisskitchen
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@chrisskitchen