Chef Spotlight – Jahnesta Watson

Who is Jahnesta Watson? (A brief Bio)

‪My name is Jahnesta but I go by Chef Shaiheem.  I am 28 years old and a native of Gulfport, Mississippi currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m a proud member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated  by way of the MIGHTY Psi chapter at Clark Atlanta University. I am a Private celebrity chef and the owner of my catering business The Guilty Plate Company which I started when I was 23. I enjoy hiking, working out, singing, dancing, and SCARY MOVIES. 

2. How did you get into cooking? What made you fall in love with it?

I have been cooking since I was 17 years old. My first full time job was in the Atlanta airport at your run of the mill burger spot. When it started off, it was just a way to pay my student housing rent. I was in school considering pre-law but the more I worked there, I started cooking at home. My place literally became the place to come to eat. I always wanted to try different things so I studied and I worked at it and realized that food centered me. It was a place to express myself in ways that my other passion for music couldn’t reach.

3. What is your favorite type of food to make or eat?

My favorite type of food to make is Italian and my favorite foods to eat are Japanese and Ethiopian.

4. What inspires your culinary craft? How do you come up with new ideas?

What inspires my culinary craft is my passion for learning more. I feel like food tells stories and I love as crazy as it sounds, being able to cook when I’m going through things. This means that the release of all that raw emotion goes into my food and I feel that it makes a true difference In the way people feel after they eat my food. The way that I come up with new ideals is that I once a week go into the grocery store and try to challenge myself to create two things that I’ve never made with ingredients with that  I’ve never touched. If the recipe turns out right then I’m on to something new and if it doesn’t turn out right it gives me an area of growth that I need to focus on. I just really go and allow God to lead me to the ingredients that I’m using and I’m blessed to say that some of those experiments have been some of my most popular dishes and most well received on my social media. For instance, my most popular dessert which is the salted caramel banana pudding was something that I came up with while I was going through a really really rough emotional point in my life. I have never made banana pudding prior nor had I eaten it because I don’t eat or drink anything that is fruit flavored including fruit and the only exception to that lemon and lime .

5. Do you have any tips or advice for those learning how to cook or for those who are looking to elevate their meals?

I believe that cooking well is a lot like practicing medicine, a lot like being a professional dancer, or even a singer. If you want to continue to be good, learn to be good, and/or stay sharp it takes practice. Don’t be afraid to treat food as if it is a study. Invest in good cookbooks, watch videos from reputable chefs and culinarians, learn the basics so you have a foundation to your cooking style, and never be afraid to experiment. One of the ways that I learned how to create a wide array of flavor profiles with my food came from experimenting and going wrong so many times before things began to go right.