Flavors Fly At Food Biz Showcase

Kismet Douglass hurried from pot to pot under the shade of her tent at the Q House Farmer’s Market, where the ​“global flavors” of Momma Kiss Kitchen Cuisine were on display. 

In one pot she cooked Jamaican jerk chicken with rice and pigeon peas, and in another, Thai curry vegetables with jasmine rice — all served up as part of a food business showcase featuring 10 local culinary entrepreneurs.

Douglass is a 2022 graduate of CitySeed’s free Food Business Accelerator, a 12-week course designed to support Connecticut entrepreneurs in the early stages of launching catering businesses, packaged product lines, and food trucks. 

The spring curriculum fosters the development of a business plan, networking opportunities, and workshops with Yale Law School professors and CT Food Launchpad representatives. 

CitySeed operates the program in collaboration with Collab, a support system geared toward early-career Connecticut entrepreneurs. Since 2017, the accelerator has graduated over 30 small food businesses, ten of which were invited to spotlight their growth at its fourth annual showcase outside the Q House on Wednesday.

Douglass, known affectionately as Momma Kiss, has been cooking since she was a teenager. During the pandemic, pictures of her home cooked meals soon gained traction amongst friends on Facebook. 

In order to pay for her sons’ college tuition, Douglass started catering comfort food at large scale events before deciding to pursue her business venture through the accelerator program in 2022. 

Now an employee of Yale’s Schwarzman Center dining hall, Douglass invests her after hours into cooking up ​“global flavors, from soul food to the Caribbean to Thailand” for a growing roster of clients. Douglass has since expanded into City Seed’s community kitchen, a 2022 installation that is used by around 15 Business Accelerator graduates a year in four-hour shifts. 

“One day, I’d like to have an event space of my own,” said Douglass. ​“There would be art on the walls, and people could come in to listen to jazz music and enjoy my small plates.” As she spoke, Douglass ladled rice and pigeon peas into a paper food boat, topping it off with a few pieces of Jamaican jerk chicken. 

As the city’s Jamaican cuisine scene continues to grow (read a little about that here and here), jerk chicken has become a New Haven staple. 

Shakeema Romero, another food business accelerator grad who participated in Wednesday’s event, overcomes this ubiquity by bringing to her dish tanginess and a slight kick, offering a bite that is balanced out by soft, almost creamy rice proportionally punctuated with pigeon peas. 

During the pandemic, Romero became keenly aware of the fact that she struggled to identify the cryptic ingredients spanning the food labels on her groceries. ​“I was trying to be more mindful of my health and what I was putting in my body, but it was difficult to find food that didn’t contain ingredients I could barely pronounce,” she said at Wednesday’s farmer’s market.

So, in January 2022, Romero opened Suga & Spice Me, ​“your go-to destination for Caribbean-inspired culinary delights,” spices, teas, and desserts — with a healthy twist. 

Due to being born in St. Croix in the British Virgin Islands, growing up in New York, and moving back to St. Croix before relocating to Bridgeport in 2021, Romero’s taste influences span the Northern Hemisphere. 

Wednesday evening’s selection included both vegan and non-vegan chili, indistinguishable from one another with a slight kick, followed by a vegan chocolate cake. While the cake itself lacked the moisture of certain wet ingredients, Romero remedied its denseness with a creamy chocolate sauce that struck the perfect balance between rich and sweet. 

“Oh my God, this is so good!” said one customer who tried the non-vegan chili. ​“This is vegan?” Romero nodded with a smile. 

“You’ll see me again before the end of the market!” 

Despite having managed Suga & Spice Me for two years, Romero said the accelerator program transformed her business this past spring. ​“I was able to build my brand and reach new audiences, as well as expand my network. In fact, I’m meeting with someone later who can help get some of my products in stores.” 

Romero holds culinary and public health degrees from Monroe College as well as a Master of Education from Grand Canyon College, which led her to teach kids’ cooking classes before opening Suga & Spice Me. 

Cooking has always been in the cards for the entrepreneur. Thanksgiving is a glorious event in the Romero household, as her entire family works in the food industry as chefs, restaurant owners, and more. 

In line with her family’s trade, Cadence, Romero’s 16-year-old daughter, helped serve food at their booth. 

While Romero enjoys her current operation, she is seeking opportunities to land her products on store shelves. ​“I want more people to be able to enjoy the food they eat and stay healthy without sacrificing sweetness.” 

For dessert, Sheila Howard served up bite-sized samples of Auntie Sheelah’s Cheesecakes — conveniently stationed by the market’s exit. 

What originated from an idea for a cheesecake catering service materialized over 12 weeks in spring 2022, but Howard has been baking for far longer. ​“I started out baking cheesecakes for my husband in 2018, and then people began to ask if I could bake them one, too.”

Howard currently caters eight sizes of cheesecakes across countless flavors, her most popular being banana pudding. The cake was rich and creamy in taste yet light in consistency, complemented by a soft banana base and crisp crust. 

“You’ll definitely be getting an order from me soon,” said one man between bites of strawberry cheesecake. 

“I look forward to it,” Howard replied and winked before turning her attention to the winding line of potential future customers.