The Season 22 champion blends Trinidadian roots and global influence for a signature flavor
Since childhood, Chef Tristen Epps-Long has practiced balancing his culture with global influence. His passion for the world has affected his cooking from country to country and restaurant to restaurant. Winner of Top Chef Season 22 and featured at this year’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival, Epps-Long is redefining Afro-Caribbean cuisine, unencumbered by traditional flavor profiles and cultural stereotypes.
Food has always been a passion for Epps-Long. And although there are many reasons he cooks, at the heart of it, he’s often just hungry.
“I feel like eating is one of the greatest feelings that you can have,” said Epps-Long. “It’s something that can trigger nostalgia, the ‘aha’ moment. It can connect you to your culture. It can connect you to your family. I can get to know them, they can get to know me, and it’s just this nonverbal communication that can connect you to the entire world.”
The idea of connection is huge for Epps-Long. Growing up with a mother who was active duty in the US Navy during his childhood, he had to acclimate every few years to an entirely new environment.
“The easiest way to connect with people was always at a lunch table or a dinner table, through food,” said Epps-Long. “I started cooking as a way of gaining independence for myself. And I continue to cook to give more people the ability to be seen and give them that sort of independence and identity.”
Epps-Long’s mother encouraged his interest in food throughout her deployment. From all four corners of the U.S. to Guam, the Philippines, and Japan, she always made sure there was food on the table. On Fridays, she took Epps-Long to local restaurants to try the cuisine and learn the culture.
“Who are your first mentors other than your family?” asked Epps-Long. “My mom was very much about acclimating me [to our environment]. But when I really wanted to feel rooted and grounded, I spent a lot of my summers with my grandmothers and aunts.”
Epps-Long’s family is native to Trinidad, a country known for its bold flavors and vibrant ingredients—a food culture he will celebrate this Friday during SOBEWFF at Las’ Lap Link Up, held at the Kimpton Surfcomber Hotel in Miami Beach.
For Epps-Long, it was important that he always had a home to go back to while he was traveling the world with his mother, visiting countries and continents each with their own distinctive histories.
Epps-Long’s culinary career has led him on a world-wide journey that includes serving alongside Chef Marcus Samuelsson at Red Rooster Harlem and later becoming executive chef at Red Rooster Overtown in Miami, where he led the restaurant to international acclaim. The creative partnership between Epps-Long and Samuelsson continues at SOBEWFF, where the two celebrate the Afro-Caribbean diaspora at the Overtown Brunch on Saturday.
Epps-Long credits Samuelsson as an important guide along his culinary journey.
“I find it’s a very rare, rare thing to have been able to watch a TV show and say, I’m going to follow this guy and see where his career goes, then later on, meet him, work for him, and excel under him,” said Epps-Long.
For most of his life, Epps-Long has considered his own mistakes and the mistakes of others to be his primary counselors. While constantly placing effort into grounding himself in a fast-paced culinary world, he also seeks to serve as an inspiration to the chefs that come after him.
“It’s culinary versus culture, or culture versus culinary, and all I can ever say is that it’s a hard thing to want to balance,” said Epps-Long. “Maybe the unpopular thing to say is that you are not completely defined by your culture. My successes would have never amounted to what they are without experiences that I have had being an immigrant to another country and learning from immigrants in this country. America is built on immigrants, and I wouldn’t have had the success I have without them.”
Learn more about this year’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival at sobewff.org, where tickets to both of Epps-Long’s events are available for purchase.
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