IMAGINE APPLYING for a job of cook and housekeeper and being offered an instructor’s position instead.
That’s what happened to Yozine Greenidge when she answered an advertisement from the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in 1994. She was surprised when she was offered a job teaching baking technology instead.
“I said, ‘but I have never taught baking before’, but [the interviewer] told me to come the Monday and it all fell in line from there,” Greenidge said. She has been an instructor ever since.
She now has eight certificates in culinary arts, including one from the Barbados Community College (BCC) Hospitality Institute. However, she draws on her experience of cooking and the numerous recipes she creates and those she has perfected to impart her vast knowledge to her students.
She has conducted classes at the YMCA, the Skills Training Programme, the Girls’ Industrial Union and The Learning Centre.
She speaks proudly of having helped many young people to gain awards at NIFCA. Pride of place goes to students at the Learning Centre.
Even though baking came naturally to Yozine Greenidge she has done several professional classes to fine-tune her skills.
“It went well, especially since they are slow learners,” she said. “The first time children from there ever went to NIFCA was when I took them and they got medals; gold, silver and bronze. One is a chef to this day.”
The love for cooking is what got Greenidge into the kitchen, though baking now takes prominence. She loves creating recipes and enjoys watching videos of other baking enthusiasts on YouTube for new and interesting ideas she can pass on to her students.
“You can call me anytime of the day or night and ask me a recipe and I can give it to you with exact measurements, the method and not have to look in a book,” she said.
Greenidge admits to being demanding in the classroom.
“If you do any of my classes I want you to succeed, so I will push you,” she said. If she gives students a recipe this week, she does not want them to come back the next week saying they do not know it.
“It gets me very upset,” she said, noting that they would not get away with that type of behaviour at the BCC.
“The tutors do not go over everything; you are responsible for your own learning so just because you are coming to the community centre [don’t think] anything goes,” she said.
The perfectionist in Greenidge insists that after her class any student should be able to go to the polytechnic or BCC and be competent enough.
Over the years she has grown to feel very accomplished. Her favourite things to make are cheesecakes and croissants. The thought of writing a recipe book has been tossed around in Greenidge’s mind and she plans to work on it.
“I feel good within myself that I regularly see people in town and they tell me they are still baking; some students are employed at well-known hotels, some have gone on to have their own businesses,” Greenidge said.
She said she always tells them that they cannot learn baking technology in three months. Rather, they have to continue to enhance their skills.
Greenidge recently concluded a six-week baking technology camp at the Bush Hall Resource Centre and held an open day for the eight students.
It is therefore hard to believe that this full-time office assistant for a law firm can find time to dedicate to teaching.
She cannot remember when she started baking, but prior to 1994 she worked as a messenger at a bank and baked bread which she sold at work.
Over the years, Greenidge had hoped to get into the school system as a home economics or food and nutrition teacher but that never materialised.
But her love of baking has not wavered, so much so that even if she is not feeling well and someone calls her to teach a class or make an item, she would get it done. (LK)