Photography: Cheers Photography Trinidad
By diving into a delicious dish, you can often taste the personality of the chef behind it. It can be shy, tepid, one-dimensional, or strong, spicy and vibrant, loaded with aromatic depths that tap into cultural traditions. The latter certainly applies to Natasha de Bourg, a Trinidadian-born chef turned reality star on the hit Bravo TV series, Below Deck Sailing Yacht. On the show, her boisterous and approachable personality was matched by her bold tastes, blending her Caribbean culinary heritage with her international training.
The result creates magic in the kitchen. Think salmon carpaccio topped with a tropical blend of orange ponzu sauce, fresh mango and cherries, or her playful “shrimp on the rocks” – where she wraps the delicious crustacean in spiralized potatoes and edamame avocado mousse, served in a bed with moss. “For me, that’s what food is all about,” says de Bourg. “It is a language and a passion that you can only speak when you become one with it. It’s like love.”
Despite battling jet lag after yet another international trip, during our phone call her bubbly spirit shines through — all animated hands and laughter as she shares her passion for cooking.
Her enthusiasm was sparked at a young age in Sangre Grande, Trinidad, where she learned about food from her grandmother. Trini dishes gave the chef early lessons in blending different global flavors, as they did in the family’s recipe for stuffed Christmas chicken. “It’s a mix of Creole herbs, Indian spices and a Chinese touch,” says de Bourg. “I just loved the intermingling of my culture.”
cultural DNA
As an adult escaping a troubled marriage, she sought a new life in cooking, the space that had brought her so much confidence and creativity as a child. She studied culinary arts at the Institute of Hospitality and Tourism in Trinidad and Tobago and the University of Derby in the United Kingdom. Refining her skills, she later completed a bachelor’s degree in international business from the prestigious Cesar Ritz College in Switzerland.
“From there everything started to make sense to me,” de Bourg recalls. “I was the only brown-skinned Caribbean girl studying at that level.” But she didn’t let that experience scare her. “There were people from many different countries, and here I am from this little island. I had to represent.”
She did her island proud, interning at three Michelin-starred restaurants such as Eleven Madison Park in New York, Atelier Crenn in San Francisco and Mirazur in Menton, France. These eventually led to the role of Executive Chef at the French fusion restaurant, L’Ardoise, in France.
Although she enjoyed the wealth of knowledge gained from these experiences, something was still missing. “Obviously I started traveling and living abroad to learn the basics of international cuisine,” says De Bourg. “I think it broadened my horizons in thinking.”
For her next course, the chef would embark on a new kind of culinary adventure, branching out into the world of private yacht charters, which combined her love of food and travel. She quickly became a hot commodity, serving as head chef at Flying Dragon, based in Spain, and later Panthalassa, based in Turkey.
Chew on this
It was her experience working on these ships that led her to star in Below Deck Sailing Yacht. “What people don’t know is that I went to Below Deck as a bet with one of my friends,” she laughs.
Alongside her world-class cooking skills, fans recognized her for her confidence and strong will, seen, for example, in confrontations with crewmate and head butler Daisy Kelliher. Although reality TV may be famous for its larger-than-life orchestrated characters, for De Bourg’s screen presence, “what you see is what you get. Nothing is written. People think we’re acting, but we’re actually working 18 hours a day.”
Always the winner, de Bourg has been busy since the show, appearing as a judge on the Jamaican TV series Maggi Food Court, where she judges some of the Caribbean’s most talented chefs. She is currently writing a memoir and developing her own television series, which connects her love of food with critical social issues affecting the Caribbean today, from domestic violence to colorism.
As such, De Bourg rarely has downtime. When she rests, “It might sound crazy, but I travel,” she says. “I like to travel because it opens my mind to see why people eat the way they do.” She believes that one of the best ways to learn about a community is through its food. “For me it’s becoming one with the culture and the people. I don’t want to go to a fancy restaurant. I want to go to the grandmother down the street who has a hole in the wall, because that’s where you get the authentic culture.”
Since beginning her culinary journey, she has visited 72 countries and learned to speak three languages. Each country has added a new flavor to its palate, each based on its rich Caribbean roots. “It always comes back to cultural DNA, and I think that’s what food is.”
