'This is a place where I can really help': Chef finds kids hungry to learn in cooking class
On a sunny Friday afternoon, he could be taking a few hours off or doing what it takes to market his business.
Instead, on a recent smiling, congenial Kamal Philibert unloaded food products he brought onto a preparation table in the kitchen of the Dorcas Outreach Center for Kids — The DOCK — in Melbourne’s Booker T. Washington neighborhood.
Spaghetti went into a pot for boiling, cut salad greens into a big dish. When he saw a baking pan that had not been cleaned to his liking, Philibert cheerfully scoured, rinsed and dried it before he added boneless ribs. Out came the barbecue sauce and spices.
“Fifty kids will eat here,” he said. “But before they do, they will learn how to choose food and cook it, easy meals that they can do at home ... Here, we will teach the basic steps of cooking, and we stress nutrition.”
This he will do once a month in what is part of the Neighbor Up Brevard program at DOCK. In its 20th year of service, The DOCK provides a safe environment where education is stressed for children in its neighborhood, after school and during summer breaks.
Ninety-seven percent of those children live in low-income households; 74%, in households headed by single moms.
It has been a roaring success, with 39 volunteers to help with homework, tutoring, recreational activities and other projects for about 48 kids per day.
Since 2004, no child actively engaged at The DOCK has dropped out of school, and the walls of its lobby are decorated with the pennants of universities to which its alumni have gone: Colgate, Virginia Commonwealth, Georgia Southern, just about any in the state of Florida.
LaShaundra McGhee, a longtime activist in nonprofit and community organizations who on April 1 became executive director of Neighbor Up, speaks of cooking as every bit as important as the fitness, arts, dance, technology and other programs at The DOCK.
“We all eat, and everyone is interested in food,” she said. “What they learn here, they will take home.”
They now have just the man to get them there.
Food, family and kids' futures
Philibert, a native of Jamaica, has been involved in the community for years too, having cooked for events, parties, funerals and functions. Having previously operated Philibert Kitchen as a catering service, he opened a takeout restaurant four years ago, inside a Shell station at 3676 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne.
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He has worked with food trucks and has been a contestant on a TV program hosted by Gordon Ramsay. He has cooked for Melbourne’s CITA Mission and Helen’s House, and once a month he travels to Orlando to feed about 300 homeless people.
When asked about inspiration, the omnipresent smile grows: It comes from his mother, Sandra, who helps him prepare the food of her native country and that is therapy for her, as she is recovering from breast cancer. No surprise, then, that he also supports charities dedicated to fighting cancer.
Much can be done when your passion is food.
“I started cooking at an early age,” said Philibert, who remains at an early age. “My parents owned a Jamaican restaurant and I went to Eastern Florida State College to become a chef, to specialize in Caribbean cuisine. But I had to branch out to be able to provide meals for all sorts of different people, different cultures.”
He found out about Neighbor Up Brevard and The DOCK from clients whose children are in the program or have been affected by it, and who mentioned him to The DOCK’s leadership.
“They reached out to me,” he said. “I had been cooking in the county, but I never knew about this, and after I heard what it (was about), I made the decision to come here. I thought, ‘Yes, I need to partner with the DOCK program. This is a place where I really can help, I think.’”
The program is free and Philibert takes donations from Cash App; pantries and customers help provide food.
His first meal would have a little of everything: salad, vegetables, pasta, sauces and condiments, eventually laid out as a buffet, and he had just taken out the ribs when into the kitchen bounced two more cheerful people, 11-year-old Sanyah Pino and 9-year-old Trinity Johnson. They were duly impressed by a busy young man in a chef’s jacket and apron.
“You’re really Jamaican,” Sanyah said, having heard the chef speak. “Are you going to make Jamaican food?”
Philibert set them to work at once, explaining how to administer spice to ribs, doing so and then having them get their gloves on and their hands in the meat for a hands-on lesson.
“Have you guys ever seasoned meat before?” he asked.
“No, I never have,” Sanyah replied. “But I like learning how to cook. I made scones once.”
“It’s cold!” Trinity exclaimed as she rolled the meat in the fragrant powder.
Philibert explained why that must be and then asked what they could tell him about seasoning meat. They repeated his words about adding flavor with enthusiasm, and that what is good for you also can taste good to you.
Sanyah and Trinity took their eyes off him only to study the food he and they prepared, and as he arranged salad in its bowl, an onlooker could see the wheels turn; this too was something to be remembered, taken home.
It would be repeated five times, with 10 children, none more than 17 years old, in each session.
“We taught them the basics of cooking, the things to look for in spoiled meat; basic salt-and-pepper seasoning and how to portion it. They learned cooking times and temperatures for each meat we focused on: ribs, beef and chicken. Then they enjoyed the delicious meal we prepared,” Philibert said.
He will be back.
“We form a partnership to host the classes once a month." he said. "This is to keep the engagements of the kids and to continue to teach them about the importance of having a healthy, nutritional meal. We also recommend the surrounding community to join.”
Leave it to a kid to have the last words.
“This is going to be fun,” Trinity said. “This is going to be fun.”
Lyn Dowling is a freelance food and lifestyles writer based in Melbourne.
Neighbor Up Brevard’s The DOCK, 1151 Masterson St., Melbourne, is in need of a dance instructor, donations to its technology program, a van with which to transport children to off-site programs and volunteers. Call 321-253-4214.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Serving up fun: Brevard chef dishes out tips in kids' cooking classes
