The Icon — The Legend — Chef Cordell Robinson

An exclusive interview on his rise to fame, success, and entrepreneurship

Cordell Robinson known as “The Culinary Diva” is a world traveled man that has a love for food, helping others, and working hard. Cordell has a foundation called Shaping Futures Foundation, in which he is in the works of building an all-girls school in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Cordell cooks every day and challenges himself to make new and exciting dishes all the time. When Codell goes to dinner it is an experience of taste, textures and ambiance for him. It’s about the journey the food takes him on when dining and when cooking. Cordell has cooked for many people globally, adapting to cultures and cuisines. I sat down and obtained an exclusive interview with the culinary icon. Here’s an exclusive interview with the legend himself Chef Cordell.

Tell me about yourself: I am Cordell Robinson aka Cordell The Culinary Diva. I have been cooking since I was 7 years old. I grew up in a household of six kids and my mom worked two sometimes three jobs. She did not have time to cook all the time so we would have peanut butter & Jelly, Spam, or some other kind of quick meal. I began to watch my aunts and great aunt cook and I started to mimic what they were doing in the kitchen. I asked questions out of curiosity, and I knew I had a love for food. I started with very basic dishes like baked chicken wings and seasoned some canned vegetables. As I got older, I started doing more complex cooking. I made fried rice, egg rolls, meatloaf, spaghetti and many other things by the time I was 10 years old. At that time, we did not have the internet to depend on for recipes, so I went by taste and pictures. My brothers and sister seemed very pleased with my cooking. When I moved in with my father, my stepmom cooked just about every day and I would watch her technique and style. I did not cook much there but when I had the chance I would. Later in college I cooked for my friends in exchange for them to buy the groceries because I could not afford the food, I really began to sharpen my skills. After college I went into the US Navy and my first duty station was Diego Garcia. I got together with friends, and we would use a one burner or cooking put to make meals. It was incredibly challenging, but it helped me have the ability to be able to cook in any kitchen. When I got stationed in Spain, it was a great opportunity to taste very unique foods and try their style of food. The first dish I made was a Paella. It was exceedingly difficult as I had no idea what I was doing but once I did it a couple of times it because super easy and I enjoyed the process and what I call the labor of love. When I left the Navy, I would find every opportunity I could to cook for people. I would get creative with dishes, go out to restaurants and explore different cuisines to expand my palate more. In my last home my kitchen was very small, but I would have dinner parties for 50+ people and would have to cook in stages to get it all dine in time. I enjoyed that time creating dishes and more importantly, my guests enjoying my food. I like to take people on a food journey to experience cuisines from all over the world. I am of Jamaican descent, so I do make a Jamaican inspired dish at least every other week. Cooking is a passion of mine and I like to share that passion with everyone. I the past few years I have been cooking for celebrities and corporations. I have cooked all over the world, Diego Garcia, Rota Spain, Sicily Italy, Crete Greece, London UK, Toronto Canada, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Tanzania, Zanzibar, and Paris France.

How would you describe your preference in culinary ambiance? My preference in culinary ambiance is a chef’s table type of experience. Fine dinning has become normal in a way that even if it is for special occasions many people have experienced it in some form or fashion, but a chef’s table experience is next level in many ways. I like to provide a chef’s table experience because you get to know the people you are cooking for in greater detail which makes the experience a lot more memorable. During the Chef’s table experience, because it is a more intimate type setting, people feel freer to have some remarkably interesting conversations. I can then relate food to many of those experiences and the energy is exciting and fun. While cooking I can explain in detail what I am doing and more importantly why, from knife cuts to seasoning. The concept behind the ingredients presented is important and explaining them always opens minds to trying a new type of food to the group or a particular person in the group at my table. I like a very upbeat and relaxing type ambiance where all the outside stresses are put on pause during the experience so that its truly enjoyable. As for the décor and setting I like to have basic black and white table settings and let the food be the art pieces. The walls of course would have beautiful colorful art, and the chairs would be beautiful and comfortable. I like it to be like you are shopping in a high-end boutique like Goyard, Hermes, Prada, Tom Ford, Moreau, Faure’ le page. I want the experience to feel luxurious with out feeling pretentious. Wonderfully comfortable, elegant, and fun. I like my guest to see the kitchen because I know it puts me at ease if I can see the kitchen, then you can see the symphony orchestra of cooking occurring and the cleanliness as well since I am OCD that is important.

In the origins of your career what kept you motivated in the food industry? In the origins of my career what has kept me motivated in the food industry is three main things. 1. People enjoying my food. 2. The challenges of the food industry to keep innovating. 3. The ever so evolving food industry on a daily basis.

What makes your food and craft unique? What makes my food and craft unique is that I incorporate my Jamaican roots into my food and craft. My food has a cadence to it, when you eat it, you know it is a culinary diva dish. The thought process behind my food is from and experience or a conversation. When I shop for ingredients, I am thinking of unique ways that will provide an experience. I like to cook food that may seem familiar even though it may not be. The love I put into my food is not just love but has history of my roots and history of experiences that you can taste.

In this digital age and microwave type success amongst influencers what advice can you provide to emerging culinary chefs for longevity in the food industry? In this digital age of microwave type success amongst influencers and celebs, the advice I would give is let your passion shine, think of ways to stand out, network a lot, cook a lot and have as many people try your food as possible. One thing my Great Aunt Mary provided advice by example was that everywhere she goes, she takes food with her. For example when she goes to the Doctor she takes food and offer it, when she goes to by a car she brings food, she gets to know her neighbors and feed them, when she goes into the bank she brings food. All of those are great techniques to get a variety of people to try your food, creating potential clients for catering, or to come try your restaurant of you have one, and most importantly ground roots notoriety. You can always ask them to follow you and let others know about you. I would say think of every avenue you cab think of to get your name out there for success. For social media, it is not always about the number of followers but the right followers. Never give up no matter what obstacles. Use failures as teachable moments and not moments of defeat. Keep an open mind and have the ability to take constructive criticism as a moment to grow. Always reinvent yourself and think of ways to bring something unique to the culinary world.

What formal training still remains vital to your brand today? The formal training that still remains vital to my brand today is the basics, knife skills, sauces, marinades, editing and seasoning. These basic concepts will take ones career to different heights. Also, some international formal training because it will expand your palate beyond.

You travel — worldwide, what teachings have you unearthed internationally that you utilize on a daily basis? The teaching that I have unearthed from my international travel that I use on a daily basis is proper seasoning and not being afraid to utilize seasoning. Cooking temps and patience as some dishes take time. Precise prep and marinating of ingredients. When I cooked in Diego Garcia while serving in the Navy I only had a burner and a electric pot. I had to be very innovative in my approach when making complex dishes with very little equipment. I learned from one of my friends Angela grilling techniques on a tiny floor grill which has stuck with me now that I have quite more advanced grills to remember the basics. Making grits in Souda Bay Crete Greece with my friend Patrick in a common area kitchen with very basic pots and making something as simple as a meatball sub while in Spain, understanding that the local bread I used as the vessel was key. When I made my first Paella in Spain, the prep took me hours because I created by taste only. When I made my first Turkey internationally in an oven that is nothing like ovens in America, the attention to seasoning and temperature.

As I cook on a daily basis many of my global experiences come to mind and when time to edit, all of those challenges push me through to make very exciting, delicious food.

In this complex industry who or what has kept you motivated through building your internationally recognized brand? In this complex industry my husband, and some family members, and very close friends has kept you motivated through building your internationally recognized brand. They are always rooting for me. They are very honest with me. When I need advice they give me feedback that I need, not that I want. The support is amazing as they ask for recipes, I can talk to them when feeling unmotivated, or have no fear in showing my human side. Pursuing a global brand is a very difficult feat and the challenges are endless because the food world is competitive and ever so evolving. I appreciate having support of what I was told when I was very young lofty goals, and now realized that if you do not set extremely high standards you will just end up mediocre. The what that has kept me motivated is my confidence that my background and experience in this world needs to be shared. Being pushed by innovations in food I see all the time. As I travel more, and learn cultures and the food of the culture, I learn more perspectives. The history behind food and what it means motivates me as well, because it has been a peace maker, brings family and friends together, creates happiness, and feeds the soul beyond hunger.

What five key ingredients in your shelf you cannot live without for your dishes and why. The five key ingredients in my shelf I cannot live without is Garlic, salt, grapeseed oil, onion, and pepper. These are the basics for almost everything that I use in cooking. Salt of course is used in savory and sweet. Many say bacon makes everything better but garlic brings dishes to the next level. Grapeseed oil because it cooks a a very high temperature and a blank slate taste when it comes to oils, onion because it provides almost a umami to dishes. Mincing it finely, most cannot tell onion is in the dish once cooked but that flavor it adds is a depth that nothing else can provide, plus it is very versatile. Pepper is a loose term because there is black pepper, white pepper, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, and so on. With the proper editing the use of pepper provides an accent to a dish that makes it stand out from others.

You’re predestined for excellence and icon labels. What would you like for your culinary legacy to be? I actually would like my culinary legacy to be that I used my platform to promote education of many sorts, passion for what you love, and pairing my culinary experience with my foundation (Shaping Futures Foundation) which is to bring about a new diverse type of education that many people have been talking about for quite some time, but I have not seen much action taken on it. I am starting with building a secondary school in East Africa (Tanzania/Zanzibar). The education style will be both academic, artistic, and technical in nature. Life skills, academics, and technical skills will be taught at the same time to give a true well-rounded education. For example, learning history, personal finances, and culinary arts. Learning business basics early on instead of having to wait to enroll in an MBA program. Learning how to balance and budget your money so save for the future while still enjoying life by having thought leadership to create several lines of income. Learning culinary arts enough to feed oneself in a nutritional way instead of the current way of eating fast food, or microwavable foods that diminishes quality of health life as you age.

I have worked extremely hard and continue to, so that I can enjoy life to include the finer things like luxury fashion, which I have so much respect for, Quality food which is a priority, and the expectation of excellence always. All of the things I described above equals to excellence as my legacy in every way and everything that I have done and accomplished.

It was an honor sitting down with you. Thank you so much