We were lucky to catch up with Naren Gosine recently and have shared our conversation below.
Naren, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about the best boss, mentor, or leader you’ve ever worked with.
I have a good amount of mentors but the ones that have got me to where I am now in my career and passion are a select few. Going back to the beginning, I was first introduced to my life-long friend and brother Rashaad Clinkscales, he was always coming for me and his brothers all the time, fish and grits with big jug of kool-aid. When we finished high-school he we t to culinary school J&A in south philly, he gave me a call one day and said what am I doing with my life. I told him I wasn’t doing anything productive, at the time I was just being a knuckle head young bul running around in the streets of Philadelphia. So he said why don’t you come to Culinary school, so I said sure. At that point I went and got classical training but I dropped out half-way through the semester because I had a child on the way so I had to work to provide for my son. So my first job as a professional cook was at El rey where I met my lifelong mentor and uncle Chef Dionicio. He taught me the base of who I am today as a Chef. He was from Mexico, so I got got trained in authentic Mexican cuisine through him. He pushed me to limits I didn’t think I could reach, he helped me in so many ways possible even with my kids. I am forever grateful for my uncle, he always makes fun of me because he thinks I’m to Hollywood as a chef, but that’s his way of saying he’s proud of me lol. After I left there I then journeyed into my next milestone Baby Blues BBQ. Where I met the Fishcer family. Danny Fischer and Johnny were not only mentors but my family. They taught me so much in different styles and hybrids of Bbq. Danny would teach me the life of smokehouse bbq, using a smoke, different styles of rubs, sauces and cuts of meat. All while Johnny would teach me the analytical side of things, they were the perfect duo to learn from. I ran there food truck, won events and festivals, it was a high time for me in my life as a young chef. A very proud moment and I couldn’t thank them enough for all they have did for me, they set the second half of who I am as a chef today. After spending 5 years with them I moved on to Food Chasers. Those twins and family the importance of being proud of who you are a a person and not to let no one take your shine away. They introduced to me confidence as a Chef. They are the most dopest family I have came across in my life. They move as one and stay as one and where one is weak at the other is strong at, they helped me become balanced as a chef not only in my creativity but also as human. Working for them not only did I get I deepness with in myself but they new everyone so we got to cook for some pretty cool celebrities, pro athletes, and politicians. I got more in touch with the soul food side of things. At that establishment is like if philly got married to the south. Grits, creole shrimp, and cheese. Real stick to your bones kind of food. After my time spent there I moved on to the Philadelphia cricket club, where I met my final missing pieces as a chef. I had a team of Four chefs Ben, Bill, Shawn, and Steve. They refined and re sharpen my skills as a Chef, Ben was a beast on his own, that’s why I call him big dog that man has skills that is on another level that’s not of this world. Shawn was this Philly, southern chef that would pull recipes out of no where and they would be mind blowing. Steve was a man that was a underlying giant, so cool, calm, and collective on the surface but whe. It was time to shine that man brought the rays of sunshine to dishes. Finally Bill was a master shifu stuck in a American body lol. His Asian dishes where top tier. Combined those men poured alot of knowledge in me that took my skill.level to even greater heights. With that being said those are my mentors who make me as the chef I am today.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
So I got into the industry one for my culture, I am first generation Trinidadian in my family. I use to remember my grandmother in the countryside in the mountains cooking curry duck, chicken, and rice. My sister had a pet monkey named Chico I would feed, and bathe. So one of my purposes as a chef is to showcase my culture in everything i do, it’s a small island but they have big flavors. My other reasons being I. The industry that I am in is that I love art and food. I remember watching Grant Achatz and he made a edible balloon, I thought it was the most mind blowing thing ever. I mean to make edible food that looks like art sent me down a rabbit hole. When I was younger I would paint, draw, etc. I love art, it captures the beautiness of life it self. So being in the industry I try to portray my art through food. I’ve been In the industry for 15 years now, So one of my missions is to highlight the industry is full of underground misfits, all walks of life are here, and are expressing themselves in ways that are beautiful, but the down side is the industry is so overlooked, we don’t get great benefits, we don’t have a work life balance, we don’t even get the perks of having therapy in are industry, but yet we control what goes I to people’s body, we serve over million plates a year of not more, we have to put in hours, days of works to give you your best 45min experience of your life, we make sure everything is consumable, because if not you can get extremely sick, or die, especially with allergies. But yet we are so over looked as an industry. I believe we are on a level of heros like cops, firefighters, and doctors. But yet no one sees us, when the world goes in turmoil we are there to comfort people in times of need, we are apart of life’s basic nesscities, but yet we’re overlooked, so I want to highlight and be a pioneer for are industry, I want to pick up where Anthony Bourdain left off. World is so big and there is so many different types of food and cultures out there that everyone should explore and experience.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My mission , is 3 things, I want to shed as much light in my industry as possible, 2 I want to highlight my culture as much as possible because the world deserves to know what trinidad has to offer. And 3as much it’s normal for kids to say when they grow up they want to be a firefighter, police man, doctor, i want Chef to be apart of there dream as well.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of my craft is seeing people and strangers mind blown by what I create, seeing them introduced to new cuisines and let me be the artist behind it is so rewarding and satisfying, it makes the 80 hrs put in melt away lol.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Chef_nique90
- Facebook: Naren Aaron Gosine
- Other: Tik tok: Chef_nique90
