British-Jamaican Chef Jhané Gibson crowned as MasterChef UK winner

Jamaica: British-Jamaican chef, Jhané Gibson was announced the winner of the culinary television show ‘MasterChef United Kingdom’ last week. The 29-year-old Gibson, raised in a family of fervent yardie cooks, became the winner of the BBC-TV cooking competition that began with 48 contestants and ran for 21 episodes.

For the finale episode, the show's cast and crew headed to Antigua and Barbuda to film last year in November. Gibson defeated the fellow finalists Kristen Dodd and Matt Willett in the final episode.  She impressed the judges at every stage of the competition while proving that her flavors, her story and her heritage belonged at the very top of that industry.

After being crowned as the winner, Gibson was still in disbelief and was overwhelmed with gratitude. "I still can't believe that I am a 'MasterChef UK' champion! I worked so hard throughout the show to improve with every dish, so winning really feels like all the hard work paid off," she said in a post-show interview.

Gibson is a second-generation Jamaican born to a father who hails from Clarendon and an English mother whose parents grew up in Kingston.

She mentioned that her Caribbean ancestry has a major impact on her win as for her final dish she cooked a fried snapper with escoveitch pickles as her starter, a piri piti poussin for the main course, and ended with a Jamaican-inspired rum cake for the dessert that is a constant in her household, made by her maternal grandmother.

In the final challenge Gibson dazzled the palates of judges, Grace Dent and Anna Haugh.

"I was taught to cook by my family, so Jamaican cuisine will always influence everything I cook," she mentioned.

"The journey throughout the show was an experience I'll never forget. Every week, I was pushed to cook the best food of my life. It was definitely challenging at times, but I think that's why the experience was so valuable," Gibson joyfully shared.