Paula Laurel

Connect What is your signature dish?

My Signature dish reflects who I am. Maultaschen of Everywhere - German pasta pockets filled with slow‑braised Caribbean oxtail, infused with ginger, lemongrass, and a whisper of scotch bonnet; finished with a concentrated coconut‑ginger glaze. The outside reads German; the inside remembers the places that shaped me. One bite folds my life into memory.

Who is your culinary inspiration?

My Trinidadian mother - a global citizen who whipped up croissants, focaccia, beef bourguignon, and spanakopita from scratch as if it were the simplest thing in the world. She taught me that kitchens have no borders, no passports. She taught me to fold surprising ingredients together and feed people fiercely. Her table made me a cook who moves between worlds and stitches them into a single meal.

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would launch Cooking My Way Home - a book, a podcast, and a community rooted in a simple truth: some people cook to get dinner on the table. I cook to make meaning. The $25,000 would fund recipe testing, food photography, and the first season of Stories at the Table - conversations with cooks, writers, and memory-keepers about the foods that shaped them. Because the foods that remember us deserve to be heard