Master chef: meet the Marietta 3-year-old cooking prodigy

Working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic changed life for a lot of people.

For Marietta’s Heloise Ahoure, it meant being at home with her daughter, Kensli, who was 1 ½ years old in March 2020 and is now 3.

Kensli would follow Heloise around, curious about everything she was doing, especially in and around the kitchen. And Kensli wanted to be held, always, partially because it’s a better vantage point to be part of the action.

“At some point, I was looking for something that would be more convenient for me so that I could walk around,” Heloise said.

So she found a hybrid chair/stool that Kensli could safely stand in that was at the perfect height to see over the counter, see into the sink and know everything that was going on at the kitchen level.

As it turns out, Kensli was soaking it all in and, soon enough, wanted to be part of the action.

It started with allowing Kensli to rinse the fruits and vegetables. Then she wanted to pour her own cereal and add the milk.

“She kept wanting to do more, step by step,” Heloise said. “She wanted to crack the egg. She would see me making eggs or pancakes and wanted to do it herself or do it better. I would just stand behind her, hold her hand and used her hand to hold the spatula and flip it over.”

Heloise took things slowly, she repeated instructions, she showed Kensli the technique to put it in her muscle memory and she was extremely careful to teach her hot, cold and the dangers around the stove and kitchen.

Soon enough, Kensli was warning Heloise if she was worried things might be too hot.

“At some point before I would get close to it, she will tell me ‘too close, too hot’,“ Heloise said.

Heloise believes in the Montessori method of learning, that children learn from hands on and collaborative play and should be allowed to show their creativity and make their own choices in that play.

So rather than capping what Kensli can learn about cooking due to her age, Heloise has leaned into it.

She couldn’t find hot pads Kensli’s size, so she used winter mittens.

She wanted to learn more, so Heloise would try new recipes and traditional dishes from her home West Africa, where Heloise lived until moving to the Atlanta area 10 years ago.

Now, Kensli can make everything from breakfast favorites like omelets, crepes, eggs and pancakes to pasta, shrimp and a variety of meat that she has learned to season by herself.

“I tell Heloise all the time that she is the perfect child,” said Mea Boykins, a family friend who has known Kensli since she was born. “She cooks, she’s so independent. She does everything. It’s just been very shocking just to see how independent she is and also creative.”

Boykins said Ahoure is blessed and lucky to have an independent child who wants to do everything on her own. Like Kensli and Ahoure, Boykins speaks both French and English, so the trio can mix and match the languages they speak together in the kitchen.

“(Ahoure) hasn’t had to lift a finger in the kitchen almost for so long it doesn’t even make sense,” she said. “(Kensli) literally cries when her mom doesn’t let her cook.”

Ahoure is working with Kensli on numbers and measuring now, doing the measurements in front of Kensli so she can take it all in and then having Kensli mix the ingredients.

Ahoure has also made an effort to expand Kensli’s cooking palette, connecting her with world-famous chefs like Senegal's Pierre Thiam — an executive chef of Nok by Alara in Lagos, Nigeria — for a cooking class to make a traditional dish of fonio, an ancient grain used in African cooking.

Ahoure also reached out to Atlanta chef Briana Riddock on Instagram and set up a tour of Riddock’s Rock Steady Atl. Riddock said that she also began cooking 4 years old and said that she was obsessed with watching The Food Network instead of cartoons.

“Kensli is special because her palette and coordination is very advanced for her age,” Riddock said. “She knows her flavors and I was very surprised at how sophisticated her taste buds were for a child her age.”

Riddock showed Kensli how to plate her passion fruit coconut cheesecake.

“The base of the cheesecake is coconut milk and cream cheese, while the topping is a whipped cream made with heavy cream and passion fruit puree,” Riddock said. “We made the whipped cream together and she was very coordinated using the mixer. She tasted the passion fruit whipped cream and was able to identify the sweet and sour flavor profiles.”

Boykins said that it has been fun to see how quickly Kensli’s cooking has progressed and how sharp she is observing and picking up on things.

“(Kensli)’s smart and she’s fun,” Boykins said. “She’s a go-getter. She loves to swim, she loves to play. Whatever she’s doing, she’s really focused. She’s a very unique child. She’s very smart and she’s very attentive. She understands.”

Correction: The printed Cobb Life Magazine and previous version of this online story list an incorrect last name for Kensli. Kensli's last name is Liora. The MDJ regrets this error.