Chefs Angelique Kingston and Christina Perotte are two best friends who share a passion for getting Caribbean food a seat at the table.
Photo Cred: Chefs Angelique Kingston and Christina Perotte
Chefs Angelique Kingston and Christina Perotte joined to create Thymeless Catering, a catering company serving unique Caribbean fusions menus. Angie and Christina combined their Guyanese and Haitian households to bring Caribbean flavors and cooking techniques to the catering landscape.
Angie and Christina opened their own business to serve non-traditional Caribbean flavors, creating blended recipes from both upbringings. They both worked in commercial kitchens and felt they could not creatively put themselves on the plate. Hoping to redefine traditional and authentic Caribbean cuisine, they wanted their meals to be distinctly different from what they found at home.
While training in culinary arts school, Angie and Christina learned how to cook at home. Family recipes are the core of their practice, interwoven into each recipe. Thymeless Catering connects their families’ past and future.
"Family is an integral part of our company and just our food in general. So much of what we do is stemmed from family recipes that we've tweaked and adjusted and some of her cultures, some of my culture. You know, our technique is based on how our families did it. All of our sauces pretty much had some kind of influence from either one of our families or a connection of both of our families." - Angelique Kingston
Watching the matriarchs of their families produce dishes for family gatherings; they were both inspired to be that source when they were older. From a young age, they found cooking a valuable tool for interacting with the world around them. As Angie watched Lidia’s Kitchen growing up, she began to see cooking as a potential career path. For Christina, cooking became a creative outlet to better understand her identity and belonging.
"For me, I want to say being Haitian American, at a young age, was a little difficult because at school or outside of the home, I wasn't quite American, but then at home, it's just like, I'm not quite Haitian. It was kind of hard connecting to the culture. And I really do feel like the food is what was like it was basically an outlet, it was able to connect between me and my upbringing, my culture" – Christina Perotte
Nostalgia plays a large part in developing catering meals. One of Angie’s favorite dishes is Metem, a coconut broth with ground provisions and steamed plantain. Served with crispy fried fish, Angie feels the dish transports her back to Guyana. Christina’s favorite dish is coconut rice with steamed fish, which brings her back to memories of her home when her mother would fill the house full of the sweet aroma.
However, both have a great affinity to their shared recipe of Black Cook-Up Rice, which combines a classic Guyanese dish with Haitian ingredients. Creating this dish was a formulation of both their love for food and presenting both of themselves at the table.
While Angie and Christina’s roots remain in catering, they want to make Caribbean flavors and seasonings available to all households. Developing a seasonal line of sauces and pickles, they expand their reach to be available for everyone to cook at home. Their most popular sauce, the Green Seasoning, is a blend of herbs and spices from both Haiti and Guyana. Creating new sauces seasonally, they hope to bring further versatility to the cuisine, showcasing the adaptability of Caribbean food.
From college to catering, Angie and Christina play off each other’s passion for producing innovative meals. Using each other as inspiration, they share a deep curiosity for transforming Caribbean fusion into an entirely new cuisine. While each meal is an homage to home and Family, they are invigorated to continue testing the limits of tradition.
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