Chef Rob on Food: Entertain Educate Engage

Stuart Murray  0:00  
This podcast was recorded on the ancestral lands on Treaty One Territory, their traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and the Dene peoples and on the homeland of the Métis nation.

Amanda Logan (Voiceover)  0:19  
This is humans on rights, a podcast advocating for the education of human rights. Here's your host, Stuart Murray.

Stuart Murray  0:29  
Chef Rob Thomas, hailing from Winnipeg is an internationally acclaimed Caribbean culture chef known for his culinary prowess. With a diverse culinary journey that spans the Caribbean and beyond. Chef Rob has left his flavorful mark on the global culinary scene. His skills have graced the kitchens of renowned establishments, and his delectable creations have delighted the palates of celebrities. A culinary Maestro with Trinidadian roots, Chef Rob Thomas continues to enchant food enthusiasts, with his innovative and tantalizing dishes showcasing the rich and diverse flavors of his heritage. Now, that is kind of a recipe for a good conversation. So Chef Rob, welcome to humans on writes. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here. You went to school, I believe in Winnipeg. Yes, I did. Okay, just let's talk a little bit about kind of your, your younger timeframe in Winnipeg, Chef, and then what your journey was the got you involved in Food Prepping, and ultimately to become this incredible chef, who is doing amazing work, not only here in Winnipeg, in in Canada, but clearly internationally. So talk about some of your early ages in in school? Well, you know, it's very interesting, because when your parents come from a different heritage, a different culture, even though you are in a different country, from from where that stems, you're still raised with a lot of those values that, you know, that our parents grew up on. And so I felt that was something that was, that was very important to me. And being close with my family, I have three brothers, and we're all very close, there was a lot of things that we were able to deal with together, not saying we didn't go through things individually. But just growing up and even dealing with, you know, racism in certain situations. Growing up, it's a lot different now. Because I feel like there's maybe a few different ways to look at it and approach it, and everything. But you know, when when you're when you're younger, you're seeing all of these things, and sometimes negative things pointed towards your your heritage, your culture, but on the other side, you know, your family is doing the best to preserve it. So I would say, you know, my childhood was very good. It was a very loving childhood. But there were there were just some some challenges that, you know, I would say probably helped shape me today. Yeah. And so, so, Sheriff, when you think back, you know, the fact is, is that we're having this conversation during Black History Month, and we're gonna talk about your involvement in Black History Month, when you look at today at the fact that Black History Month is becoming such a vibrant, and I know a lot of the people involved in it, Nadia Thompson, her sister, etc. would say, you know, we celebrate black history 365, not just one month, but you know, this is the month that has been sort of deemed to be Black History Month, when you think about Black History Month today and go back to when you were younger? Do you reflect on some of the changes that you have seen over that time, since you were a young person, a person of color growing up in Winnipeg to what you see today? You know, there's a definite difference in growing up in Winnipeg as a young man, as opposed to what it is today. First of all, I would say that society in general has more welcomed the idea and put a little bit more of a spotlight on black history. Whereas when when you were younger, it can be taught to you through a relative, even certain forms of media would still have it, but it wasn't as big as it is now. So the importance of black history to me is, I do agree it is celebrated 365 days a year with within the community. But I look at Black History Month as a month to be able to focus and share not just to educate ourselves in a little bit more depth. But just to be able to share our culture with other cultures and the rest of the world. I think that's how it's changed. 

You're in this fabulous family environment. Your family is very close, where your mother or father were either them did they kind of given interested in food that allowed you to say wow, this is interesting, or did there's a way that perhaps the family meal meant a lot to you and so that started to get your interest in being understanding of the importance of food

Chef Rob Thomas  5:00  
Yeah, absolutely. My father from Trinidad, my mother born in Aruba, and you know, lived in Grenada, caribou for a big portion of her life. Food is a very big part of both of those cultures. So it was already there from from growing up, I would say that my mother's and she did a lot more of the cooking at home was also a very big influence on me actually doing the cooking, like physically getting involved in in the cooking, I did have to learn a lot of you know, things on my own as I progressed, but you know, the the bass lessons as to the importance of cooking for your family, the family meal, the importance that that really holds was probably one of the greatest lessons that I ever learned from her. 

Stuart Murray  5:42  
And so would you have like helped out in the kitchen? I mean, would you at that age, maybe at some point families operate on different levels, Rob, and a lot of times, it's just anticipated or expected. You may not have any interested in food, but everybody has to pitch in. Did you did you find at that point that you were saying this is something that is starting to form an opinion about you, I'd like to get more involved in food preparation and ultimately becoming a chef. 

Chef Rob Thomas  6:07  
Absolutely. You know, the funny thing was, is that out of all of my brothers, I was I was actually the pickiest eater. And there was just certain foods I didn't eat. And my mum was a wonderful cook. So it's not like the food that she put in front of me was bad. But you know, at a certain age, I was a kid I was fussy for reasons that I don't even still can't even comprehend today. Her big influence was also pulling me inside the kitchen and prepping dinner with her. And not just not just making the food, if it was setting the table, it was sometimes running around in gathering, you know, my my brother's saying like, hey, you know, dinner's, ready, come and eat. And as a kid, when you're just getting food prepared for you, you sometimes you might take that for granted, saying all foods ready, I'll I'll come and get it when it's ready. But when you prepare the food for somebody, and you say, hey, it's ready. There's a different level of importance, because you're just like, hey, I spent a lot of time on this. This is important. Come eat now. 

Stuart Murray  7:07  
Yeah, totally. I 100%. Did you did you work in any restaurants at all? When you were sort of going through school or university? Or any of that? Did you? Did you do any of that as a way to kind of cement what you really wanted to do? And when you went now that you are Chef that there, did you get any background in that area at all, Chef? 

Chef Rob Thomas  7:27  
Yeah, you know what I really did. I did work in many restaurants, well, restaurants, food establishments, you know, any anything to have to do with food, I definitely put in my time with that definitely helped shape who I am now, because you learn different things from different chefs from different restaurants, from your cooks, your your, your dishwashers, like you know, your your your servers, your eat all these people in the restaurant industry, or hospitality industry can all teach you something. So it's all it's all contributed into, you know, this where I feel that I've evolved now. 

Stuart Murray  8:06  
Yeah. And is there was there one point that you know, as you were known at that point, Rob Thomas, is there one point where Rob Thomas said, You know what, I'm going to become a chef. Was there one moment where that happened? Or did it just kind of morph its way into finding out you're where you are today? 

Chef Rob Thomas  8:24  
It's a very interesting question, because when I decided that I wanted to be a chef, it was long before I was called Chef Rob, it happened, I think, shortly after high school, because at that point, like I already was cooking in a restaurant. And I actually really enjoyed it. And I thought that I could see myself going a lot further in it. And as much as you see people kind of jumping in and jumping out of it, I, I kind of just stuck with it. And it got to the point where I would say, when I got very confident at what I can do, again, that's when I became Chef Rob. But before even saying I was Chef Rob again. 

Stuart Murray  9:03  
So that confidence piece chef, I think is is important for the I'm a chef Rob wannabe, okay, so that's why I'd love to be doing what you're doing. But I don't have the confidence. You know, like, if I don't, if I want to make something I'm gonna follow a recipe. 

Chef Rob Thomas  9:19  
Well, I think it came from, you know, still my early years working in restaurants is that I was watching food that I was making in restaurants and go out. And I always thought that you know, some of it, I thought, hey, that's great. Some of it, I thought, Hey, that's not my thing. But you know, what's on the menu, I can make it. And then my imagination just kind of started wandering. And I started looking at food differently saying, hey, you know, I know how to cook these things. Maybe if I just start rearranging the ingredients. Let's just see what type of fun I can have. And then at places where I was working, I ended up doing a lot of staff meals, so you know whether it's the server's coming back for another coworker in the kitchen, when they wanted to eat something, well, you get tired of eating the same food every single time, because you're just working in a restaurant, you kind of go with your favorites. So I was able to just start playing around with different ingredients. And it just really sparked a lot, a lot of creativity in me. And I made sure not to leave that just at work, I started experimenting with food at home. And it just it snowballed from there.

Stuart Murray  10:29  
Right? Because at some point, you know, Chef, you went from working in a, in a restaurant, what's all involved in in that we're aware of, but you then decided that you are now going to basically hang up a shingle, calling yourself as you are Chef Rob. So now you are an entrepreneur, you're out there doing your own thing you are working for yourself. And you know, that sort of ability to start being creative must really feel like you're now starting to sort of chart a course that, that allows you to really feel good about the food you're making. Absolutely,

Chef Rob Thomas  11:02  
it was charting a course in waters unknown. At some point, you know, when you when you find there's something that you want to do, there's, there's gotta be something inside us some sort of confidence, maybe even just blind faith in yourself that you can make this happen. And you don't have to know exactly how you're going to make it happen. You just kind of have to know that you can make it happen. And I think that's kind of what really is that transformative state where you start looking at everything differently and saying, hey, you know what, I haven't done it before. But I can do it.

Stuart Murray  11:34  
Right. And I mean, that must have been taken a lot of courage to just say, I'm gonna leave the comfort if you could use that term of, of a workplace kitchen, to go out and do my own thing on my own terms, and in my own time, and do things that I'm interested in.

Chef Rob Thomas  11:52  
It was a huge leap of faith. It really was, it was a huge leap of faith that I never forget taking that leap. And I also never regret taking that leap, because it's led to some some really good opportunities.

Stuart Murray  12:06  
Yeah. So let's, let's kind of jump into the notion that, you know, we are talking about your involvement. And again, thank you for finding time during Black History Month. I know you're super busy. You know, let's talk about your you're doing a kind of a live stream event on Thursday, February 22. Tell us about what what's involved in that. What do you want people to take away from that event? Chef? Rob,

Chef Rob Thomas  12:29  
I think from that event, what what I really want people to take away is, for one, some entertainment, I definitely want you to be entertained, I want you to be educated. And I want you to be engaged. So whether you're sitting in the audience, or you're watching on a live stream, I'd love to see your involvement. I'd love to see some comments, some questions. Those are always my three things whenever I do an event is to entertain, educate and engage. So

Stuart Murray  13:03  
the entertaining part I get because I can just it's your personality, it's who you are. So you you will entertain that much I get let's, let's talk a little bit about the education. What when you talk about you want to educate? What What do you mean by that is how the food is prepared? How it looks, the history of the food, talk a bit about the education element?

Chef Rob Thomas  13:21  
All of the above? Yes, absolutely. I think that food tells an interesting story. And that story is the soul of the food. So what I do is I tell the story of the food, or the ingredient, and how it plays into the dish, the significance of the dish. And if you're there in person, you actually get to taste it and see what what all the buzz is about. The great thing is, is that you're always going to walk away knowing something new about an ingredient that you don't really know too much about, or you just find out something completely new. I've never heard of this ingredient before. And I don't know how to use it now. Now you've seen it in use. Right?

Stuart Murray  14:13  
Right. And as you say, if you're there in person, you get a chance to see it and use get a chance to taste that. Right. Yeah, for sure. On that notion of the education piece, looking at, you know, where certain things came from. Is there from a cultural standpoint, from your historical cultural standpoint, are there are there elements of the food ingredients that you specifically want to use as you're creating a dish to celebrate Black History Month? Yes,

Chef Rob Thomas  14:39  
there are specific ingredients. You know, from a selfish point of view. I love choosing greens that I love. They're easier for me to talk about and share. And a lot of these a lot of these foods which I do like to put my own little twist on it. A lot of these foods I have memories of these foods. So these foods are They're really important to me. So when when I share them, I am hoping that I can at least show how important they are to me. And they may not be important to you, and you know, you someone may just walk away and say, Hey, that was tasty, but at least they're gonna walk away knowing that it was important to me.

Stuart Murray  15:16  
Yeah. And are there are there specific food groups or food items that you would say I use this in the dish because I want to celebrate my Trinidadian roots or I want to celebrate some of the elements that have come through black history in how it has shaped food are there are there any specific foods that you use or spices maybe? Yeah,

Chef Rob Thomas  15:39  
it would definitely be some some spices definitely things like scotch bonnet peppers, a scotch bonnet peppers, yes, scotch bonnet peppers. It's, it's very, it's, it's something that's so common in Caribbean food and African food, plantains, or plantains. Those are very, very important as well. And when it comes to the ingredients, Caribbean food is such a melting pot of, of ingredients that a lot of the islands are using similar, or the same ingredients. And same same in Africa as well, because a lot there's a huge African influence on on the Caribbean as well. So every every island has a way that they'll do their curries that they'll braise their oxtail that they'll make different types of rotis and or different street foods and things like that. But every Caribbean island or African nation has a little bit of that element. It's just how the ingredients are rearranged and how they're served. So I think that's the beauty of it is that there's recipes and dishes that are iconic to certain violence. But for the main part, a lot of the ingredients are similar, right?

Stuart Murray  16:53  
Yeah. And I mean, it just it's it's you say it's how they get used, how they get sort of mixed up. But that's interesting. So what are you planning? Or is it do you kind of wait until people dial in on Thursday to see what you're going to do? Can you talk about what you're going to make? or is that kind of you got to dial in, and then we'll tell you about it on Thursday,

Chef Rob Thomas  17:12  
I can let out a few little leaks on it, but not everything. One thing that I plan to to actually show how we make or I guess my version of it is something called macaroni pie, macaroni pie. macaroni pie, it's different from mac and cheese, it is very different. It's a lot more dense, a lot less saucy. And you can actually cut it like a pie like like a wedge, you can cut a piece out of it and take a little square or a wedge or something out of it, as opposed to going all over the place. It's something that's made oh and a lot of different Caribbean islands. I'm going to do a chicken dish and it will involve some scotch bonnet peppers, it's not going to be jerker, it's not going to be curry, I know those are two very common ones. But again, I'm just gonna be working with some some really great ingredients, I'm going to have an African inspired dessert, actually a Caribbean, African inspired dessert, because I'm actually bringing two recipes together on it as well. And without letting the cat out of the bag. We're just gonna have some fun with some ingredients and showing a twist on some traditional recipes.

Stuart Murray  18:19  
Yeah, sounds amazing. Sounds fantastic. And, you know, can't wait to sort of get a sense of how this is all going to turn out. What what's it like to when you're creating something like this to the importance of, I mean, here we are in the winter climate, but how do you feel about sourcing locally grown product,

Chef Rob Thomas  18:36  
as a chef, you always have to work with what you're given. Right? If you can search it out, fantastic. If you can't search it out, then you have to make do I would say I've been very fortunate enough to be able to know where I can source ingredients. There's a couple of Caribbean grocery stores here that I can source things. I did actually bring a couple things back from the Caribbean where it was recently I did bring some ingredients back so that definitely helps as well. But yeah, sourcing is not usually a big problem even though it can be Yeah,

Stuart Murray  19:09  
for sure. And I mean it depends on the time of year and where you're at and that kind of thing. So chef I understand that you're also creating something around a Winnipeg Jets evening to celebrate Black History Month. Are you involved in something special there as well?

Chef Rob Thomas  19:23  
Yes, I am. I was approached by the organization along with Black History Month Manitoba. They asked me if I would present some selections that would showcase showcases culturally and you know allow and have them served at the at the Jets game on on the 20th I'm really excited on there. You know we've kind of made them we've kind of made some a few adjustments to kind of make them a little bit more in line with sports and type of sports food. But we have like a like The grilled chicken sandwich just like that's called the Calypso chicken sandwich, where we have a boat jerk pork sandwich, we have Jamaican patties, we have these African fried doughnuts, there's so many great items that that we're just going to be sharing with, with everybody who's who attends the game. So I'm really excited and really proud to be a part of that.

Stuart Murray  20:22  
Yeah, super exciting. And you know, hats off to TrueNorth entertainment, they're very much trying to obviously get more engaged in all of the things that are happening culturally and in our community. So this sounds like, like a wonderful thing to do. And again, a tip of the hat, because of your background chef, and, and your ability and your creativity to do that sounds like it's going to be a great a great fun evening, let's hope that they also win, which, you know, helps to write on the appetite side, definitely helps with the evening if they win. Yeah, for sure. So chef, one of the elements, I just wanted to sort of talk to you about maybe a little bit more from a personal standpoint, you are, obviously have great roots in food, both from your, your, your mother and your father. And, you know, the notion that during the big migration in the United States, there were a lot of black Americans that started to move north. And I know that for a long time, you know, history would talk about during slavery, how, you know, they would communicate through song and let people know what was happening through song. And it was very clever, and it was very meaningful, and very necessary to survive. If you look at that, and you put in food as a way that black culture has brought forward. Some of those elements, just share from your personal perspective, how you feel about that, what does that mean to you? And again, from an education standpoint, what could somebody learn about that?

Chef Rob Thomas  21:54  
First of all, what it means to me is, especially as a chef, it's an opportunity for me to understand a little bit more of the history of the food and be able to share it, there's a lot of things that have been unfortunate marks in history where a lot of negative things have happened. But it doesn't mean that some some other things, beautiful things haven't been created from it. So I feel like the the story that that food tells is also reflective of the culture, I like seeing how it evolves too, because the roots of it is what keeps you anchored. But once you know if if we're taking, if we're taking this metaphor, this is a tree that roots are gonna keep you anchored. But all the new leaves are the different variations of what comes from the root. And

Stuart Murray  22:44  
I think, you know, that there was a notion of something that I read somewhere where he talked about that, when you're talking about black history, that you have to weave the hard stuff with the joy of what's happened. And so, you know, I think, from your perspective, and how you sort of see that, and I just, if you were not in front of a kitchen, you were just somebody was just asking you to share your views of how food has been able to create this story that has has, has kept the culture alive to share with others, whether they're, you know, doesn't matter what color their skin is, share that. What it is that that, you know, a lot of black people have been through in their times in their in the history, but come out on the other side to talk about the joy, the opportunity and what you can learn from that. Yeah, well,

Chef Rob Thomas  23:38  
what started off as you know, for a lot of specially for going back into the times of slavery, it was a lot of undesirable cuts of meat, there were undesirable plants, you know, scraps of plants given and all of this has really evolved in to coming from something was just based out of a necessity a survival. necessity. It's just been able to transform and and really, the way that the food is also looked at too because I think when food has a deep history, whether you know it or not, you can you can taste it in the food that you're eating. You can tell if it's got history, right? Yeah,

Stuart Murray  24:24  
yeah, well said appreciate that. You obviously create in your mind your you know, you get a sense of what you want to create. Somebody says to you okay, Scheffer, having, you know, some VIPs doesn't matter who they are. So say VIPs are coming over, there's eight or 10 of them. We'd like you to create a special a signature meal. What What's your process to go through what it is that you want to prepare? Number one is want to talk about kind of that prep piece in the kitchen. But then the second thing I'd love to get your sense of how important is the presentation on the plate, and what role do you have in that presentation? So You got a blank canvas, you got to create the signature piece. Walk us through it. Okay,

Chef Rob Thomas  25:04  
so creating a signature piece, the first first thing that I asked is, are there any allergies or foods that you don't like, like, just tell me, I basically I just need to know what I need to stay away from. Because if it's any of the element is in that dish, you're not going to enjoy it. But I want to make this enjoyable, then I just start looking at what I can work with. Because somebody's telling you what you can't work with is a lot easier than them telling you what you can work with. From there. I like taking familiar ingredients, and putting my own twist on it, especially when it comes to Caribbean food Afro Caribbean food, Latin Caribbean food. I like I like giving them something that is familiar, but twist, love putting my my own touch on that. And when it comes to presentation on the plate, Presentation is everything. I know with certain types of ethnic cuisines, the way that we grew up eating it was, you know, just you're kind of just piling it on a plate. So the presentation was, to me, it still looks absolutely delicious, because I know exactly what it's going to taste like. For everyone else. It's a different approach. Presentation is everything. Presentation is also how I present myself as I'm presenting the dishes. So I try and make sure that my, my dishes just have a lot of color. Height is one thing to and they got a taste good. That presentation is about to bring you in. But that that first bite, that's what takes you home. I

Stuart Murray  26:39  
love that. So like, can you just give me a sense? I mean, you just absolutely intrigued me when you talk about height. So what give a couple of us suggestions or how when you say I want to get height, what do you do to get height?

Chef Rob Thomas  26:51  
Well to get a height, sometimes it's a matter of like stacking things in the middle of the plate or on one part of the dish. Some great ways to to achieve height are ingredients that can actually stick straight up like little types of like see like chips or things like that, like I love using plantain chips, where you can actually just position it and it gives it just kind of pops out height is is how you look at the dish and view it down.

Stuart Murray  27:20  
So So chef, one of the things that I'm interested in is, you know, in your kitchen, what's your your have to have? Sort of most essential item that you have

Chef Rob Thomas  27:32  
in your kitchen? In regards to like an ingredient.

Stuart Murray  27:35  
Yeah, let's start with an ingredient and then maybe a piece of equipment. Okay,

Chef Rob Thomas  27:39  
so ingredients, I do believe that you kind of need to have a little bit of a mixture of ingredients. But I definitely always have to have salt. I like chili peppers. I like citrus. And I love anything coconut milk, oil, shavings everything. Okay. All right. And in terms of equipment, there's always a bunch of fancy equipment that you can that you can use to do different things. But at the end of the day, I just need, you know, maybe two or three of my knives handy, and a cutting board. And I think that I accomplished a lot with that. Yeah,

Stuart Murray  28:18  
well clearly you do it from your perspective, you you've got a long runway in front of you, but to date, is there a group or an individual or an organization that you have created a chef Rob meal for the you would sort of say, this one stands out to me as one of my best? Have you heard that? Wow,

Chef Rob Thomas  28:37  
that's that's a really good question. I don't know if I have that because I'm constantly trying to talk myself and that's, that's kind of the madness as as a chef, you're almost like this mad scientist trying to make your last creation better. I have had a lot of memorable meals that I say that I that I have prepared for people and sometimes it's just the memories attached. I've had the opportunity, you know sometimes to cook for people that would you know, without getting into too much depth that you know, maybe they they've had, you know, something terminal that's coming up in there. I've been blessed to get that call to say a we would love you know, to actually do a chef Rob meal and create a memory for this special guest of ours that may not be around too much with us.

Stuart Murray  29:32  
Wow. Super personal. Very, very incredible. What an honor to have that. Chef that's that's that's incredible. Is there from your perspective. Yo Do you enjoy eating out at other restaurants? You

Chef Rob Thomas  29:47  
know, I really do enjoy eating out that at other restaurants, especially when traveling because I just find that when I'm when I'm at home I tend to be working a lot and then coming home and just being able to prepare with Whatever I have at home or gone shopping with, but I do enjoy eating out. It's not just a social thing. But it's a research thing. So that's what I say, especially when I travel because you start getting a lot of different experiences from different restaurants. And I also have a little bit of a, I've been studying wine a lot lately, too. So it's interesting going to different restaurants and just seeing how the food and wine pairing matches up with just different ingredients that might throw a curveball into the pairing. Yeah,

Stuart Murray  30:33  
interesting. You cook a lot with wine, like as part of your ingredient. When

Chef Rob Thomas  30:37  
necessary, when necessary. I do I do cook with wine. I have been educating myself on wine lately. So I do also look for new ways to incorporate it and just keep myself educated and engaged and entertained with the whole thing as well. Yeah,

Stuart Murray  30:53  
no, it's as you said, it's all part of learning that I think is fantastic. I was going to ask when you cook, do you? Do you enjoy music in the background? Or do you prefer just your own sort of rhythm of what you're trying to do that's going on in your own mind?

Chef Rob Thomas  31:08  
Well, you know, when I took music in the background is really good in the beginning, but I'll tell you this, the music kind of drowns out after a while, it kind of comes in and out of your ear, the odd time, but you just get such in a zone, when it comes to cooking, that the music almost becomes part of like your subconscious. Do you

Stuart Murray  31:31  
find that like when you're cooking in a kitchen? You know, there's a lot of TV shows. And so a lot of the television shows that show cooking, your chef's preparing in a kitchen, you know that it's kind of Hell on Wheels, you know, there's all this tension loud voices, flaming stuff going up. I appreciate that. It's a television show, I understand that. But just getting to know you, as I've gotten to know you. It sounds to me like you would create an environment in a kitchen. That would be extremely professional, but very chill. Is would that be a fair assessment?

Chef Rob Thomas  32:05  
Yeah, absolutely. That's a definite fair assessment. You know, don't don't get me wrong. Every chef has their things that they're very strict and passionate on it. But I also do believe in, in treating everybody with respect. First of all, no matter who you are. And I think a lot of those shows, I've actually, I was actually on a cooking show. And I've done a lot of TV, but I actually did actually what went on chopped, and I didn't didn't make it through the show. But it really opened my eyes to actually how these things are produced. Because it's set up in a way to make it look like chaos for you. And I don't think a lot of kitchens operate on that anymore. I think that there was a time when they did. And that was that was that's kind of the entertainment part of it. Right? Like people kind of want to see people kind of like lose their mind. And they want to see the chef yell and scream and everyone kind of, you know, fall in line. But you know, some kitchens may be like that. But you know, certainly certainly not any kitchen that I'm at the helm of would would would read that type of negativity.

Stuart Murray  33:11  
Yeah, I mean, it's personality driven. Right. And that's just that doesn't seem like that's your jam, I mean, to do that. So appreciate that. Do you have Chef is there somebody, maybe there's one or two other chefs that you would sort of say, I love what the chef is doing, or I love, you know, kind of maybe whether they're, maybe they're not alive today, but just is there somebody that you have looked at as either a mentor or somebody that you quite admire about the work that they're doing from a chef's perspective, you know, like,

Chef Rob Thomas  33:40  
just not off the top of my head, but but definitely yes, there's a lot of, of chefs out there that I look at, and I see some of them doing some really great things with the power of social media, which is which makes is a good thing, I'm able to kind of look at and and discover more and dive into a little bit more of those chefs. So I will say no one off the top of my head, but there's a there's a huge long list that I would have to just kind of pull up and I could just go through it. And it would just take really long but just just know that there are a lot of chefs out there that are influencing me, and that have left an influence on me. And I also think that it's also as as our duty as chefs to still learn from other chefs, and continue to grow.

Stuart Murray  34:27  
Yeah, and I mean, just on that chef, you're very active socially. I'm going to put your website, your Facebook, your LinkedIn account and your Instagram account. I'll put that into the show notes so that you know people can follow you people get a sense of what it is that you're doing and the great work and exciting work that you're doing. I'm going to ask you two last ones before we before we hit the off ramp. One of them is as you know, we're spent a bit of time talking about your involvement with black history month from your professional situation as a as a chef as an intern. National chef, if there was one thing that you would like listeners, or people that are involved in live streaming or being in person on Thursday, when you do your presentation, what what one takeaway from a Black History Month perspective, would you like the participants to take away,

Chef Rob Thomas  35:20  
I would love for the participants to take away that there's so much more to the cuisine than just what's just being shown to them at this time. And when the demo is over, and, you know, people are leaving, and people are shutting off their screens, I want them to, to keep in mind what they've learned. And look up something like I'm not expecting someone to become a Grand Historian on Caribbean food, but take some of that knowledge that you've learned. And then just dig a tiny bit deeper, just to further your knowledge a little bit, just dig a little take it one step further without me.

Stuart Murray  36:03  
Interesting. Yeah, I love that. I went and I did a bit of research. And I know that you provide a lot of recipes for Canadian home trends, which is a magazine and very much, very much a vibrant website. So there's a lot of information there. And I just thought it was, you know, this is what I loved about one of the dishes that you had there chef is that typically you talk about, you know, the name of a dish is mac and cheese, or something and something. But what I loved about what you had in there was it was a recipe for brussel sprouts, and butternut squash, hold it. Wait a minute, there's another hand and bacon and I thought, wow, okay, you know, here's a guy that really is putting a different spin on a lot of things, a lot of dishes. And I love the fact that there was a second hand in that recipe, thank

Chef Rob Thomas  36:53  
you very much. I feel like a lot of ingredients go into most recipes, or there's always a list of ingredients go into most recipes. Sometimes I just, I just like throwing out those words to kind of just really also pull you in. And when you read the title, what I really love about that is it's you're not just reading what's in there. I think that once you read the title, you start trying to almost picture what it's going to taste like. Totally,

Stuart Murray  37:21  
no. And that's where you know, I love to end this conversation with your chef because the ability to create something physically in front of somebody, at the same time to paint a picture for somebody through the the words that are used to describe what it is you're making, I think is is a is a tremendous skill. And clearly you have it in so many, many ways. And we're blessed to to have you in Winnipeg. I know you travel internationally. And I know you're back here specifically to do some things to celebrate Black History Month, Chef, but thank you for spending some time with with me today. I can't wait to get a chance to taste your next Creation. Thanks for your time, Chef.

Chef Rob Thomas  38:06  
Thank you very much, Stuart. It's been an absolute pleasure, chatting with you getting to know a little bit about yourself as well. And I feel very honored to be part of your show. Okay,

Stuart Murray  38:18  
Chef, thank you and continued success in your in your creative journey.

Chef Rob Thomas  38:23  
All right. Thank you.

Thanks for listening to humans on rights. A transcript of this episode is available by clicking the link in the show notes of this episode. Humans on rights is recorded and hosted by Stuart Murray, social media marketing by Buffy Davey music by Doug Edmund. For more go to human rights hub.ca produced and distributed by the sound off media company