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Realising it was something she was intent on trying, Compton’s mother helped her get a job in the kitchen at the Sandals resort in St Lucia. Her mother sensibly warned her about the arduous life that chefs endure - the long hours, the stress, and generally not having a social life. and I told my mom, ‘I think I want to cook.’” “I remember seeing the reactions, how happy my family was. It was cooking the Christmas meal for the family with her granny that helped her to decide she wanted to enter the culinary field. Two years later, she returned to St Lucia and contemplated her next steps, but she knew that university was not for her. At first she thought it would be an adventure, but soon realised she needed to adapt quickly to the culture and the awful weather. Cooking was our bond.”Ĭompton left St Lucia at sixteen to attend school in Britain. “As I got older, I’d ask, ‘Granny, can I help? Can I cut the onions for you?’ That was important for me, because we became very close. “Her life was just cooking and organising meals for the family,” Compton says. Her granny was a retired nurse, who spent a lot of time in the kitchen, preparing meals for the family. In a 2019 interview on the Bon Appetit magazine podcast, she said her first food memory was “going into the ocean and dipping a beautiful ripe mango in the salt water, then having a bite.” Her culinary journey began with her English grandmother in St Lucia.

The farmer’s daughter grew up with a love of fresh fruit and vegetables, and also the sea. Sir John never much bothered with the trappings of office, and his children grew up like everyone else, walking to school and doing just as the other children did. Sir John Compton, who, even as the leader of his country, never gave up his profession as a farmer. “I never expected all this success,” she says, “but I’m very happy that it happened.”īorn and raised in St Lucia, Compton is the daughter of late prime minister The New Orleans–based chef loves being able to fly to far-flung places to cook with her contemporaries, but her main focus is her two restaurants, Compère Lapin and Bywater American Bistro. “It’s kind of overwhelming, because after doing Top Chef and winning these awards, things just got bigger and bigger and bigger. “It’s a funny thing how the past couple of years have gone by so quickly,” she says. When I ask chef Nina Compton about finding balance in her life, her answer, with a laugh, is, “When I figure that out, I’ll let you know.” She’s opened two restaurants and won a heap of awards, including a highly prestigious James Beard Foundation Award - the Oscar of the food world.

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Compton-who was sworn in as a United States citizen just this week��opened up about how she found her way home, and why she's unafraid to put her business at risk to do what's right.Her life has been on fast forward since she emerged as the runner-up on the popular Top Chef TV series in 2013. Since opening the lauded Compere Lapin in the Old 77 Hotel in the Warehouse District and Bywater American Bistro in the eponymous NOLA neighborhood, Compton's cuisine, along with her husband Larry Miller's front-of-house hospitality has drawn together a local community of chefs and food fanatics in a deeply warm and meaningful way. Lucia-born, then-Miami-based chef had her pick of offers all over the country, but something about the Big Easy drew her back. After a stellar turn on Top Chef, the St.

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Is there a topic you'd like to know more about or a guest you'd love to hear from? Tell us at or tweet to Kat and subscribe to the weekly Food & Wine Pro newsletter.įate brought Nina Compton to New Orleans, and a smart business head and dedicated community kept her there. Each week, Food & Wine senior editor Kat Kinsman talks with hospitality pros about they manage their business, brain, and body for the long haul. Chefs and restaurant workers take great care of everyone else, but often they need a little help themselves.

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