If your plans for tomorrow include putting in an appearance at the Farmers’ Market, (the final one for 2019) that will be staged at D’Urban Park, beginning at 06:00 hrs, you would do well to seek out a quiet, even shy agro- processor, Rebecca Abdool, marketing her products under the trading name Becky’s Blessings.
One of the more noteworthy features of the contemporary local agro-processing sector is the way in which, in probably the majority of instances, the contemporary offerings link the present to the past.
In essence, agro-processing is about creative ways of blending fruits and vegetables to produce a range of food seasonings. It has been embedded in our culinary culture from time immemorial and the products have been available to the delight of children and to the satisfaction of a nation of incurable ‘foodies’ who sometimes seem unable to stomach the taste of even their favourite dishes without some ‘foreign’ value-adding taste. Truth be told, no worthwhile Guyanese table can hold its own without some jar of pepper, pickles or other condiment.
But there is more than that to the agro-processing sector. In its own quiet way it has provided a way forward for the self-esteem of many Guyanese women who, hitherto, might well have considered themselves talentless. Over the years the Stabroek Business has interviewed scores of such women many of whom begin by thanking their mothers for their exposure to the kitchen and to the expansive world of agro-processing. The terminology, mind you, is contemporary but the truth is that the sector that is now credited with the name agro-processing is no more than a generational upgrading of our mothers’ experiments in the kitchen, refined over time through trial and error and now vastly upgraded through enhancement in food preparation methods, the requisite technology and a mindfulness of product presentation which, a few decades ago was considered peripheral.
Rebecca, unquestionably a shy, introverted woman, admits that she feels uplifted by the realisation that she possesses worthwhile, eye-catching talents that is shaping her into what she believes is a more worthwhile person; and she is quick to credit her attention to her mother’s pursuits in the kitchen for her now considerable agro- processing talents and for the fact that those talents are being honed into a business enterprise.
The business that she now runs from the 178 Crown Street, Queenstown, address has been gradually finding its feet on what is an increasingly competitive local agro-processing market, driven she says by the inspiration that she derives from being a member of the Women in Business group which staged an impressive product display and sale at the Pegasus Hotel several weeks ago. Her progress has been gradual, at first through modest markets, and, these days through product displays like the UncappeD event at the Providence Stadium.
Nor does she allow her other job to dampen her enthusiasm for a pursuit in which, judging from the quality of her products, she clearly has a considerable talent. Becky’s Blessings utilises a range of local fruit to create peppers, pickles and dips designed to spruce up even the most ordinary meals. Her products include a mouth-watering pineapple and cucumber dip, a pineapple and guava-flavored pepper sauce and a pineapple achar. Somehow Becky has managed to keep her trade secrets close to her chest, responding with a polite smile to any question about her production process that might come too close to breaching her defences.
Perhaps understandably, Rebecca considers the registration of her own business as one of the more significant achievements up until now. Her sense of self seems significantly enhanced when you ask her about the quality of her products. It is as if she works with her mother looking over her shoulder, reminding her of the methods and remedies that created those ‘originals’ which, over time, she has built upon.
Over time, she says, she intends to work hard, to set a new trend in dips and sauces with a view to heightening appreciation for Guyanese cuisine. The export market, she says, is on the horizon.
On Saturday, Rebecca is looking forward to testing your taste buds at the Farmers’ Market.
