Natasha ‘Vinetta’ Patterson turns TikTok trends into culinary adventures

Every week TikTok brings a new trend, sound, or popular figure into the limelight. Just a few weeks back, South African-German model and lifestyle content creator Nara Smith captured everyone’s attention as her videos, showcasing her process of making food from scratch for her family, went viral. While many were intrigued, Jamaican TikToker Natasha Patterson saw it as a challenge.

Patterson, under her screen name @NatashaVinetta, has been making the world laugh with her comedic attempts at recreating some of Smith’s recipes.

Looking at her first attempt at making Smith’s butter from scratch, she said she was not at all prepared for the reaction her video would garner.

She emphasised that it wasn’t even a typical video, explaining that she initially hesitated to share it. It wasn’t until her family encouraged her that she finally decided to post it to her then 46 followers on TikTok.

“Nah, I didn’t want the attention; then I said one day, lemma post it and do a voice over because I don’t normally talk that much. I kind of have an anxiety thing so I don’t really like putting myself out there that much.”

Deciding to do a voice over in patois, Patterson said she was shocked that her clip went viral.

“I was nervous. I was like ‘gotta probably delete it or something’. I was telling my husband that this video went viral and he was all for it, saying ‘ yeah, you should do it more’ and I was like no. I had a panic attack and me nah tell no lie, I said: me nah read the comments, I’m not gonna engage cause I didn’t like it.”

After succumbing to her husband’s encouragement Patterson continued, “I found that what I was doing wasn’t really [being done] on the Jamaican part of TikTok so I just gave it a try.”

Though new to the internet, Patterson has always had a love for cooking. Spending most of her childhood in Westmoreland, Patterson’s days were filled with the sights and smells of her grandmother’s cooking.

“I liked to cook anything Jamaican, like brown-stewed chicken, curry chicken, stuff like that, and rice and peas; even though I haven’t made rice and peas in such a long time ‘cause I’m tryna stay away from the rice. And since I moved here to Florida, I got exposed to so many different types of cultures, so I’ve tried to cook Italian and all types of different things,” she explained.

Not formally trained, Patterson says she likes to put her spin on things by not following the recipe to a T.

“You know from ever since, anytime I’m making something, even if it says add that, I say no, I’m gonna add this. Sometimes it’s because I don’t have what they have or I just think it would taste better with that. I like to experiment so that’s why sometimes I don’t follow the instructions and she (Nara Smith), doh give instructions enuh. So a lot of time I have to go and look it up and see how she do it and what she put in there.”

While majority of Patterson’s attempts at Smith’s recipes are a documented failure, she said nothing beats trying.

“Nara go out on extremes, some of the things that she does you would never even think that you can make that from scratch. So, I said okay, if she can make it then me must can make it too, so it’s almost like I’m learning as I’m going. It’s exciting to try them and I’m sure other people wanna try them just like me.”

Employing her skills acquired from years of watching Master Chef, Patterson says at the very least the plating is always beautiful regardless of the taste.

Barely a month on her journey as a content creator, Patterson said despite her hesitant start she is happy to share her love for making things with the world.

“Making things from scratch has always been a part of my life because I did start my business, Polylush, where I make business supplies such as: Poly mailers, tissue paper, bags, DTF transfers etc. When I’m not cooking you can find me making products for small businesses with love. I’m just an immigrant girl from Jamaica doing big things in America.”

shanel.lemmie@gleanerjm.com