Shakti Ramos—Mixing Cultures and Flavors
By Martin A. David
She wants to run a top restaurant and those who know her can't imagine anything standing in her way for very long. Shakti Ramos is the daughter of a Sri Lankan mother and a Cuban father. Shakti's parents raised her with a full consciousness of both cultures and her aim is to bring the flavors of both countries into her cuisine. As the youngest of three children-with two older brothers-Shakti grew up tough. She may also have inherited her hardiness and fighting spirit from her distant relative, Cuban boxing champion "Sugar" Ramos. As a result, she is a chef with a will of iron.
A tough chef with a gentle touch
A story from Shakti's high school days describes just how tough she actually is. A large young man would use his size to bully and intimidate fellow students. He would push his way to the front of every line. One day, Shakti saw the bully push a small and timid young woman student out of the way. Shakti walked over to the man, grabbed the front of his shirt and moved him back to his original place in line. "That spot was already taken," she told him. "Please try to not do that again." Shakti received a mild reprimand from the school's administration, but the bully was never a problem again.
Ramos may be strong and tough, but she also has a refined and delicate touch when it comes to cooking. Her highly original and inventive dishes often blend the curries, coconut milk and cardamom of Sri Lankan cuisine with the limes, sour oranges, and smoky spices of Cuban cooking. Subtle touches, such as the addition of a hint of cardamom to the usually bland Cuban flan dessert are typical of Shakti's successful cooking experiments.
Opposition and support
"When I first started in the culinary school, I told my friends that I wanted to find ways of mixing the two cultures in the kitchen," Shakti explains, "Like I wanted to make Cuban bocadillos, that's the small snack foods Cubans eat in the afternoon, with flavors like curry. Both my Cuban friends and my Indian and Sri Lankan friends told me it wouldn't work. They said I was crazy to try."
Because of her strong will and determination, Ramos was not easily discouraged by her friends' comments. Fortunately, she also had supporters. Her parents, who understood how much the marriage of cultures had enhanced their own marriage, encouraged her to experiment in combining the two cuisines. They told her of the flavors that they had found to be similar, or at least compatible, in their country's cuisine. Shakti says their help was more valuable to her than the thought of spending a dozen years in chef schools.
Teachers were another important source of encouragement in the culinary school. "They taught us all that cooking experiments and strange combinations were responsible for many of the great cuisines of the world."
Deferred dreams
Shakti Ramos's visions and the successful dishes she invented while still a student, had to be put on hold for two years. After graduation she went to work as a lowly line chef in a restaurant whose menu featured a very conservative range of European-style dishes. Changes in the restaurant's menu had to be suggested by a senior chef, approved first by the executive chef and then by the owners of the restaurant. A burst of Sri Lankan-Cuban fusion food was not in the stars.
A Hollywood twist
The young cook continued her experiments and inventions at home, but her vision was of a kitchen in which her creativity would be welcomed and respected. Shakti's great break came when one of her former classmates, now a chef at a fancy catering company, asked her old friend to prepare some of her Sri Lankan flavored bocadillos for a client's party. Shakti pulled out all the stops and created some of her most exotic favorites. For example she made finger sandwiches featuring Cuban style ham and green banana, flavored with a mixture of chili, cardamom and curry. Her curried avocado and onion dip had been a hit at culinary school parties and she made a large tub of that.
What happened next had almost a Hollywood twist to it. One of the guests at the party was Harlow Walsh, the owner of Harlow's Bistro and two other popular restaurants. Walsh was looking for some new tastes to revitalize the menu at the bistro. He tasted Shakti's adventuresome treats and he fell in love. A week later Shakti took full charge of the kitchen at Harlow's Bistro. Business at the restaurant almost doubled in the first six months.