By Shanda Gallego

Copyright caymancompass

Growing up, Jessica Moore watched her dad cook and bake. Her curiosity for what he did grew more as the years went by.

“I would see him be so free with experimenting with different things that 99% of the time turned out insanely delicious. When I was old enough to help, it just blossomed from there,” Moore said.

She had her sights set on becoming a chef and in 2016, quit her corporate job to embark on a different career journey, to pursue her passion.

“My boss Ms. Sally already knew where my head and heart really sat. My entire time working with her, I talked about food, experimented at home, and brought food and sweets to share with my office. I shared with her my intention to do night training as a serious chef, and she was nothing but supportive. Even after leaving she hired me for catering jobs on multiple occasions and gave great recommendations [to other potential customers] on my behalf.”

‘A testing journey’

Moore said it was an incredible testing journey that required problem-solving skills, creativity and a real passion for that line of work.

“I started at the bottom peeling potatoes for weeks, before moving onto knife skills, sauces, grilling, meat temperatures, presentation, special events and more. I didn’t have the freedom at the time as a mom to pursue a paid culinary course so to took the next best available step – I worked in the kitchen and learned from experienced chefs, bakers, managers and servers. I learned everything I could [from] culinary books; studying prolific female chefs, watching their shows, their techniques and thought processes; and then I tried to replicate them in my own dishes.”

Through practice and time, Moore said she knew she could figure out just about anything.

“I started night shadowing the chefs for free at a busy kitchen on island for about a year. I had a full-time job doing property management during the day until 5, then changed and went to training at 6 until about 12 or 1am most days.”

Getting noticed

Eventually, Moore launched Taste This Life, a blog and catering company that also holds summer camps and foodie events, and provides lunch deliveries.

Moore was also a part of the Women in White foundation, where, along with two other female chefs, she held events to raise funds to send other Caymanian women interested in the culinary arts to pursue further schooling.

Moore attended the 2019 CARIFESTA delegation in Trinidad and Tobago as part of the Cayman Islands culinary arts team, where the team offered a cooking demonstration based on the Cayman catboat and made a sailing fritter stuffed with Cayman-style lobster. She participated in and judged several Taste of Cayman and National Youth Culinary events.

A career topper

Nine years after embarking on her culinary career, Moore put the topping on her journey as owner and executive chef of Fresca, a Caymanian-owned café nestled in Country Corner, Savannah, across from Countryside Shopping Village, which offers private chef services, event catering and an omakase experience.

“The idea for Fresca came about during the COVID lockdown. We couldn’t be as personal anymore as in home chefs, but I still wanted to grow in the culinary space once the pandemic eventually ended. I did a lot of market research during that time period and started building an investment proposal for a cafe based on healthier eating availability, beloved local foods and my own personal preference of an Asian aspect, which was sushi.”

She opened Fresca, which she calls her “baby”, in March 2023

“It was an insane learning curve that tested everything I did and didn’t know and how fast I was willing to learn,” she said. “I own Fresca, but took over the official head chef role, tweaking and upgrading all of our dishes and launching some exciting new monthly specials, new ideas and more.”

Her efforts have paid off.

“Things are busier than ever,” she said. “We get customers each day that are finding out that we exist for the first time, so it still feels like the first day a year in. With so many exciting specials and events planned, lots of social media content and some Caymanian food stories, we hope to stay and grow in the Savannah community for a long time.”

Taking the show on the road

Moore recently collaborated with the Department of Tourism and the Cayman Islands Tourism Association for an intimate dinner, ‘Chef’s Table NYC’, for US media in March this year. She curated a four-course menu of elevated Caymanian comfort food, paired with craft cocktails.

She said it was her first time working in the Chef’s Table NYC Kitchen, spending three days planning, preparing and creating the dinner.

“It was challenging but exhilarating to work in this new environment, creative pivoting when certain ingredients weren’t available.”

Moore added, “I’ve always worked in different ways to promote our culture and heritage through our food and traditions, and this felt like an awesome opportunity to take it to a bigger stage, with incredible help.”