Known as a culinary connoisseur among family and friends, Cherelle Cartwright would commonly find herself feeding loved ones who stopped by unannounced to enjoy the dishes.

"My business was conceived quite unconventionally," shared Cartwright. "When I'm in the kitchen, I often knock out a four-course meal, and I have friends who would show up at my door unannounced to find out what I cooked."

In late 2018, she scolded a friend in jest for consistently dropping in for a meal without contributing anything. Weeks later, that friend delivered a 10-pound bag of goat pepper to Cartwright, with the caveat that they taste whatever meal she decided to create with it.

A bit daunted but intrigued by the giant bag of peppers; Cartwright began experimenting. She eventually came up with recipes for two pepper sauce flavours - Mango-Carrot-Pineapple and Papaya-Rosemary-Spanish Thyme - that she gifted to her friends and family for the holidays.

"My friends told me while they appreciated my products, they felt like I should be selling them to make money," shared Cartwright. "Eventually, I did just that and started doing a lot of pop-ups with the two pepper sauces I developed to feel the market and get a response from the public."

Within weeks the demand for her creations spread like wildfire. "I decided to make more flavours of pepper jams and jellies because I realized it was a niche market that few people tapped into," noted Cartwright.

Cartwright established Mama Sassy's Gourmet Foods, seeing an opportunity propelled by the demand for her creations. "I didn't want a traditional, simple pepper sauce name," she stated. "When you think about peppers, you think about something that has a bit of spice and zest. I wanted something that showed a female's grace and elegance. That was what I had in mind, and I was talking to a friend, and they said, 'Why not call it Mama Sassy?' and the name stuck."

Driven to grow her new business, yet recognizing that business classes would cost her a "pretty penny," Cartwright decided to capitalize on courses offered at the Access Accelerator to "learn as much as [she] could."

"I was grateful for the Access Accelerator because it facilitated a lot of my learning by equipping me with things I needed in the background to help me become more confident in how I approach my business and what I wanted to gain from this venture."

One course, which Caribbean Export facilitated, taught Cartwright how to create an effective export plan. Another course, which the Access Accelerator hosted in conjunction with the U.S. Embassy's Academy of Women Entrepreneurs Program, equipped Cartwright to develop a structured business plan.

"At the end of it, you got the opportunity to submit your business plan and enter a pitch competition," Cartwright explained. "I entered the contest, and I was one of two winners in Nassau and won $5,000."

Cartwright invested the majority of the prize money into product testing. "My eyes were always on the big picture, which was not only just to be able to do something here," she explained. "The grant was a Godsend. Nutritional testing for one product tallied close to $1,000. The grant alleviated some of my financial burdens, considering the number of products I have and the fact that I was starting a business from scratch without two nickels to rub together to make a dime."

Today, Mamma Sassy's line of products includes six pepper jams and jellies, three balsamic vinaigrette salad dressings, a Guinness glaze, two pepper marinades, along with honey and syrup. Cartwright has gotten five of her products FDA tested through the grant.

While she has made incredible strides, she still feels she has a long way to go.

"I'm still facing roadblocks because right now, my product is one of the few products in this country that has been officially tested but is not in any major food chains," she shared. "That's something that is a work in progress because you have to put your brand out there constantly. I've learned that you have to be persistent and tenacious."

That tenacity was one ingredient that propelled Cartwright to win a Royal Caribbean Group pepper sauce competition in October 2021.

The contest, held in partnership with the Access Accelerator, aimed to boost Bahamian small businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic through a pilot program specifically for local hot and pepper sauces producers.

After a panel of judges selected Cartwright's Papaya Medley marinade out of three pepper sauces, Cartwright was given the opportunity to have her products featured on Royal Caribbean vessels and properties.

Now faced with the task of producing pepper jams and jellies for a large audience of Royal Caribbean guests every year, Cartwright said she feels she has no choice but to scale up her home-based business.

"It is a different ball game having to increase sauce production for Royal Caribbean," she stated. "Some would get intimidated, but I look at it as an obstacle to overcome, and I am not prepared to fail."

Bahamas Local had the privilege to a lunch sampling the menu at Mogano by Giorgio Locatelli.. it was delicious and to top it off we had the pleasure of meeting him.

He is the owner of Locanda Locatelli is one of the finest Michelin-starred restaurants in London, noted as much for its conviviality as the quality of its food.

NOW OPEN

"We are excited to announce the much anticipated opening of Mogano by Giorgio Locatelli.

The team has been working tirelessly these past few weeks to make this exciting new partnership with renowned Italian Michelin Star Chef Giorgio Locatelli a reality.

This is the next chapter in our mission to provide you with world class culinary experiences unparalleled to anything The Bahamas has seen before.

Our doors will open on Thursday November 25th and you will be able to reserve a table from Monday November 22nd on our Open table platform. "

Our opening hours will be as follows:
- Dinner Daily from 6pm - until
- Lunch service will begin on Monday December 6th

SUSAN Larson, head of the National Food Distribution Task Force formed under the Minnis administration, has defended the programme after Social Services Minister Obie Wilchcombe questioned the nearly $800k weekly bill.

Last week, Mr Wilchcombe said his ministry is moving quickly to put in place a new food programme. #In a letter to the editor, Mrs Larson said zone leaders for the programme included the Bahamas Feeding Network, the Grand Bahama Food Assistance Committee, Hands for Hunger, IDEA Relief, Lend a Hand Bahamas, One Eleuthera Foundation, and, during 2020, the Bahamas Red Cross. #“What the NGOs do not deserve is politically motivated sideswipes,” she said. “It is always tempting to use the shock value of a big number for political gain. But when that maneuver threatens to negatively impact the integrity of the NGOs I worked alongside of, I feel compelled to speak out. #“The weekly spend of the programme during 2021 was slightly more than $768,000. The money goes quickly when you divide it by the 18,000 households requiring assistance this year. Throughout the past 19 months, the NGOs worked tirelessly to value-engineer its food parcels to a much higher amount through local donations, discounts, leveraged purchasing with local vendors, and the incredible engagement of volunteers. # “The math is straightforward: with a weekly budget of $768,000 the breakdown per household unit was $42.66 which included non-food expenses. Another hallmark of the task force was the commitment to keep administrative costs at eight to nine percent in New Providence, 10-12 percent in the Family Islands generally, and 20 percent in Abaco—where most of the infrastructure was lost during Hurricane Dorian. Recognising that every dollar would make a difference to a family in need, the task force’s decision to keep as much money as possible in actual food assistance was unanimous. # “In the context of government operations, these overhead numbers are unheard of. They are one of the great advantages of public private partnerships as the implied savings can create a large opportunity for leveraging the benefits of the programme for the wider good. #“In New Providence weekly food parcels were valued at approximately $38 for a household of four persons. Imagine, if you will, the humility that comes when distributing or accepting such a meager parcel for an entire household. Each of us certainly wished we could give more. As chairman, I often received anguished calls from NGO zone leaders asking, ‘how can we do more?’ Together we would devise ways to provide additional emergency support. “The task force was bolstered continuously by expressions of deep gratitude from persons in need. Text messages and voicemails moved many of us to tears and steeled our resolve to carry on. #“In many areas and for many people, food parcels were the only practical option and canned goods were often a necessity as recipients did not have refrigerators or even electricity and therefore no means to preserve perishable food. Some beneficiaries physically could not get to distribution centres, and, in those cases, the parcels were delivered.”

Last week, Mr Wilchcombe said his ministry is moving quickly to put in place a new food programme.

In a letter to the editor, Mrs Larson said zone leaders for the programme included the Bahamas Feeding Network, the Grand Bahama Food Assistance Committee, Hands for Hunger, IDEA Relief, Lend a Hand Bahamas, One Eleuthera Foundation, and, during 2020, the Bahamas Red Cross.

“What the NGOs do not deserve is politically motivated sideswipes,” she said. “It is always tempting to use the shock value of a big number for political gain. But when that maneuver threatens to negatively impact the integrity of the NGOs I worked alongside of, I feel compelled to speak out.

“The weekly spend of the programme during 2021 was slightly more than $768,000. The money goes quickly when you divide it by the 18,000 households requiring assistance this year. Throughout the past 19 months, the NGOs worked tirelessly to value-engineer its food parcels to a much higher amount through local donations, discounts, leveraged purchasing with local vendors, and the incredible engagement of volunteers.

“The math is straightforward: with a weekly budget of $768,000 the breakdown per household unit was $42.66 which included non-food expenses. Another hallmark of the task force was the commitment to keep administrative costs at eight to nine percent in New Providence, 10-12 percent in the Family Islands generally, and 20 percent in Abaco—where most of the infrastructure was lost during Hurricane Dorian. Recognising that every dollar would make a difference to a family in need, the task force’s decision to keep as much money as possible in actual food assistance was unanimous.

“In the context of government operations, these overhead numbers are unheard of. They are one of the great advantages of public private partnerships as the implied savings can create a large opportunity for leveraging the benefits of the programme for the wider good.

“In New Providence weekly food parcels were valued at approximately $38 for a household of four persons. Imagine, if you will, the humility that comes when distributing or accepting such a meager parcel for an entire household. Each of us certainly wished we could give more. As chairman, I often received anguished calls from NGO zone leaders asking, ‘how can we do more?’ Together we would devise ways to provide additional emergency support. “The task force was bolstered continuously by expressions of deep gratitude from persons in need. Text messages and voicemails moved many of us to tears and steeled our resolve to carry on.

“In many areas and for many people, food parcels were the only practical option and canned goods were often a necessity as recipients did not have refrigerators or even electricity and therefore no means to preserve perishable food. Some beneficiaries physically could not get to distribution centres, and, in those cases, the parcels were delivered.”

 

Four years after pulling up a stool at the Simply Better Gourmet Institute’s communal table, I’m now four sessions in after having recently wrapped up Chef Charles Missick’s six-week Bahamian cuisine course. This was one of those courses that I went into with all expectations of just having fun exploring the foods that are standard in the average Bahamian kitchen, and I did just that, but at the same token the chef kept participants on their toes by upending some ingredients. This was certainly not a peas and rice, potato salad and macaroni and cheese kind of course –  the Bahamian cuisine class morphed into cooking with Bahamian ingredients.

Sweet, first catch of the season lobster meat met the duff sans guava, for a lobster duff with lobster sauce; Missick’s savory take on the much-loved Bahamian dessert.

The chef actually reached back decades into the annals of his mind to recreate the lobster duff with lobster sauce that he had done for a presentation in his younger years. He showcased the spiny lobster which had just come into season with a duff, which most Bahamians think of as a sweet application, and turned it into a savory pairing.

Under his tutelage, Spanish paella took on a twist with the addition of Bahamian seafood – spiny lobster and land crabs with mussels, shrimp, and spicy sausage – for a flavorful one dish meal.

A garlicky, buttery, beautiful stuffed lobster which I think will be my go-to preparation going forward was also on the agenda.

In an experiment with conch, we added freshly pounded conch to a loaf that would have paired perfectly with a boiled fish or stew conch/fish breakfast; and we added lobster to a bread that was amazingly fragrant with lobster and herbs, which we ate hot out of the oven slathered with butter.

An amazingly tasty lobster spring roll joined the line-up as we continued to experiment with lobster.

A Bahamian staple, cracked conch, was also offered. It turned out to be the most amazing cracked conch I have ever had – tender and flavorful, and which we served with potato wedges that had the perfect creamy interior foiled by a perfectly cooked exterior.

Stuffed whole fish, an amazingly rich in flavor stuffed crab, chowder two ways (traditional and creamy), and a Cajun spicy conch rounded out the sessions.