“My entire culinary career in the States was just a plan to be temporary for a year,” explains Compton, who originally planned to train briefly in the U.S. And if it doesn’t work out, I’m still young enough to change my mind.’”Ĭompton’s first job was in the kitchen of Saint Lucia’s Sandals Resort, which eventually turned into moving to New York for culinary school and then to Miami to work with renowned chefs like Scott Conant and Norman Van Aken.
“I said, ‘I’m just going to give it a shot. Her mother pressed upon her the stress, hours and demands of the career she was choosing. “I remember seeing the reactions from the food that I cooked,” she says.Īt age 17, when she told her mother, Janice, that she wanted to be a chef, she received a reaction of concern and apprehension. It was then that she knew what she wanted to do. “So those things for me, even at a young age, were very instrumental in understanding how food brought people together.”Īfter years of watching and helping her grandmother and mother cook, she eventually insisted that they sit back, relax, and let her lead the kitchen. We did a lot of family time sitting down together and having meals together,” Compton recalls. “At any given point, there was always somebody in the kitchen cooking, and it was a gathering spot for my family. The nostalgic tone that Compton uses to describe how she fell in love with cooking as a child makes clear why she followed a different path than her father. John Compton served as Prime Minister three times over the course of nearly 16 years. In fact, in Saint Lucia, Compton’s father, Sir John Compton, was the first prime minister to lead the country after independence from British rule in 1979. New Orleans’ historic status as a port city paved the way for a confluence of cultures that entered the city-both forcibly and independently-that is still present and felt today. Both communities emerged from those power battles with a deep sense of cultural pride. New Orleans and Saint Lucia, similarly to most of the Caribbean, share a common history of manipulation from colonial powers as the legacy of the slave trade played out in only slightly more subtle ways after slavery was technically abolished. For me, it feels like home.”Ĭompton grew up on Saint Lucia, a Caribbean island centered between Martinique and Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados. “People here, they want to share and include you in a lot of things. The buildings, the focus on the quality of life, the music, the food,” she says. They did research on the local ingredients.” It was also that very same tradition of honoring and representing history in every facet of the city, including food, that sung to Compton. “They did a lot of research on musicians. “ did a really good job of research, understanding that there’s more to New Orleans than gumbo and hand grenades,” Compton recounts. Her stint on Top Chef made her intentional in her approach to entering a city well-known for its fierce protection of its culture and history. They treated me like royalty when I came here, and I don’t think anywhere else would’ve done that.” “They would say, ‘We can’t wait for your restaurant to open.’ People I didn’t even know. “People would stop me in the grocery store and thank me for moving to the city,” she says. The community quickly embraced her arrival. New Orleans adopted Compton just as much as Compton adopted her new home. The Saint Lucia native knew that New Orleans would be the right-and likely final-move for her career.
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When job offers from cities across the country came in, she felt unsure of how to react or what to accept.īut when an offer to return to New Orleans arrived, she didn’t think twice. Her display of skill on the television program wowed audiences in ways that opened doors for her to advance her career outside of Miami, where she spent the previous 14 years. After competing and coming in second place in Top Chef: New Orleans in 2013, Chef Nina Compton had options.
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