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Dishing out that delicious daddy-daughter combo

Published:Tuesday | June 12, 2018 | 12:00 AMKrysta Anderson
Dynamic daddy-daughter duo – Richard and Amanda McCreath.
Dynamic daddy-daughter duo – Richard and Amanda McCreath.
Richard and Amanda McCreath.
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"My dad got me an easy bake oven. I played with that oven as a child every single day. That was basically my first stove, an introduction to the wonderful world of food," Chef Amanda McCreath shared, on both her food and family history. Today, she dishes out the secret recipe to their deliciously dynamic daddy-daughter duo.

Amanda's father has always been so picky when it comes to food.

"Daddy will not eat any and anything. If it is not pretty, he is sending me back," she added. So imagine her feeling of accomplishment when she moved from seeing her father only eating from her mother, to actually being the only person to provide meals for him.

Making it her mission to create something her father would eat was no easy feat. When she had first started out in cooking, she confessed that the food did not taste good. But she worked assiduously on it everyday because of her genuine love for gastronomic goodness. Being her biggest food critic, she held the desire to make daddy happy close to her heart.

After graduation from university with a bachelor's degree in architecture, she confessed that she didn't see herself loving it everyday, and exuding the passion, needed to jump out of bed and do it every day. She wanted more, something that would make her happy.

"In my spare time, I lived on Pinterest and the Food Network - found this obsession with food. Even though I was not a trained chef, I took a leap of faith and put myself out there into the world, teaching myself to do what I loved. I sat down with my dad at his table in the office and told him of my passion. He supported my new move," she said,

 

SAUCE EXPERIMENT

 

Amanda found herself intervening one day on her mother's 'steak out'. The sauce prepared to accompany the beef had always been created the same way, but she decided to tweak her mother's method, and wondered if her father would notice the difference. She feared that he would disapprove of the taste, but instead, he loved it. And so the culinary journey officially began. With that mission accomplished, she created new meaty missions of savoury and sweet delights, and her dad was, to say the least, impressed.

She decided to move to desserts, plantain tarts to be exact, and they did well. She also did dessert mason jars.

"That's when I toyed with the idea of starting my own business - Gourmet Jamaica. I designed the logos to choose and I asked him for advice. The one he picked is the one which stands as the logo for my business today."

Everything, she expressed, that she has asked of him business wise, "My father found a way, a possibility to make it happen".

"Having passion from within and proper business advice from dad, I was able to be successful at what I do. He's always a step ahead, he's the proper backbone for me to make it through. He gives the best advice. He's a rockstar!"

Richard McCreath explained to Outlook that he tries to be the type of father, who rather than telling his children what to do, encourages them to follow their passions and guides them through the process. It's important to love what you do and he is happy to be there for them and assist in navigating through their hopes and dreams.

"I always want to play the supporting role in their lives."

Children, he asserted, are the one thing that makes you feel complete. It's a pleasure, he noted, to be a part of the whole process of seeing them grow.

"You can't design them like a dream house or car. They come with so much more dynamics, the uncertainty, the thrill, the excitement that awaits, makes it all worthwhile."

He continued by declaring, "If you told me 10 years ago that I would be following Amanda as a chef, I wouldn't believe you, but you can never tell their direction, you just have to go on the journey with them. They all find their own way, like water finding its way down the mountainside, and you have to just flow with them," said the father of three.

While Richards enjoys his daughter's culinary prowess, he appreciates making an event out of food, going out on daddy-daughter dates, to indulge in the whole dining experience. They also share the same taste in music, specifically that of Frank Sinatra.

When he retires, Amanda says she plans to take the very best care of him.

"He has been so supportive on this journey, it has been very scary, putting yourself out there. But he has been there every single step of the way, and I can't thank him enough. I love him. He's my Daddy."

krysta.anderson@gleanerjm.com