Jen Goodman

Classical violinist turned professional chef, Jennifer Goodman, is living in New Iberia and looking to work with food again.

Born and raised in Acadiana, Jennifer Goodman has always had a creative spirit. At a young age, Goodman was trained in classical violin. She received tutelage from professional violinist Lauren Baker, who instilled values in Goodman that persist to this day.

“One of the best gifts that I’ve had in my life was to be able to take lessons from her. I didn’t take the initiative to take that next step because I was young, so she presented me with it,” Goodman said.

By the age of 15, she began playing professionally at weddings and private parties. Around that same time, she also started taking on students of her own.

Goodman received a degree in music media from the University Of Louisiana at Lafayette. She chose to pursue music media because she wanted to dabble in the production side of music.

Around the age of 25, she moved to Austin, Texas, and her life completely shifted. The change in city came at a time when Goodman questioned many aspects of her life, including her career.

“I put a huge question mark on my life, so instead of jumping into the music industry there, I just took some time for myself,” Goodman said.

So Goodman started cooking, a lot. A couple of weeks turned into a couple of months for her questioning phase, until one day, she decided to enter the culinary field.

Instead of going back to school, she took a hands-on approach and started working in restaurants. She quickly found a passion for the craft. While informing her old friends of her new trade, she found none of them surprised. They knew that’s where her life would go.

“When you’re a teenager and you’re scrambling and you’re still just trying to figure out the world, I don’t think anyone ever even asked me what would you like to do with your life. I don’t know if I ever even asked myself that,” Goodman said.

When she applied to her first restaurant in Austin, Texas, they were equally impressed by her resume, and confused about her lack of culinary experience. But her persistence secured a spot on the line.

After growing close with the owners, they recommended she attend culinary school. If Goodman was receiving a second degree, she wouldn’t settle for less than the best. So she attended the Culinary Institute of America, the premier culinary school of the USA.

She chose to attend the 2-year program, which had her participating in an externship. Unlike internships, externships are essentially required work time in a legitimate job, not an unpaid position. They provided a pre-approved list of restaurants.

Nobu of downtown New York was on the list. Founded by award winning chef, Nobu Matsuhisa, Nobu restaurants are some of the best sushi and omakase restaurants in the United States. They have restaurants in the US, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, several European states and across Pacific Asia.

Goodman was dead-set on working at Nobu, despite ridicule from her classmates over the decision, but she applied anyway. She received an interview, and they put her on the line to see how she would perform. At midnight that night, the attending chef called her over and told her she had the job.

With a single year of experience and as a culinary student, Goodman found herself working in a world-renowned Japanese restaurant in the heart of downtown New York. It wasn’t until she was preparing to leave a few months later, that the head chef learned she was there for an externship, and was not a permanent hire.

After graduating, Goodman bounced around a few restaurants in New York before becoming a food stylist. She still worked as a chef, but instead of working in a kitchen, she worked in a photography studio.

“I was always on my toes, because I had to know how to cook everything. It was challenging in a very fun way,” Goodman said.

During this time, Goodman found a love for farmer’s markets and fresh food. She spent much of her time as a stylist sourcing ingredients, so she became well-connected with the markets all around.

“I always tell people we give maybe 10% as the chef, but 90% of what you are tasting is the farmer. I don’t have to do a whole lot if I have good ingredients, because it speaks for itself,” Goodman said.

Goodman spent 12 years in New York, until the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Throughout that time, Goodman lost her job and her livelihood. She struggled to afford living in New York without a source of income, so she left for Austin, Texas. Her original plan was to get back on her feet for a few months until the pandemic ended, and head back to New York.

Unfortunately, in November of 2020,not long after arriving in Austin, she was struck by a young, reckless driver going 80 miles per hour and was hospitalized for a month.

“My whole world was turned upside down from the pandemic and heading to Austin. Now my world was really turned upside down at this point,” Goodman said.

Austin is an expensive town, so, again finding herself with no source of income and saddled with a crippling injury, Goodman decided to return to her roots. She came back to New Iberia.

Goodman recovered in New Iberia for two years. She didn’t just recover from the accident, but she recovered her roots. She’d grown accustomed to the cold demeanor of New York, so when she first came back, receiving waves and greetings from strangers passing by felt foreign to her.

“Every part of my being was different, because when you’ve been in a place for 12 years, you really do adapt to that,” Goodman said.

Goodman is in another “question mark” phase of her life. Unfortunately, she cannot stand for long periods of time, so she can no longer work as a chef, but she wants to remain in the culinary industry. Currently, she is overseeing the farm at Iberia Market Gardens.

“Being on the farm and working with vegetables brings joy to my heart, because anything to do with food brings something more into me,” Goodman said.