It was really two things: poverty plus creativity. I came from a single parent home, my mother worked two jobs, and it was my responsibility to make sure myself and my younger sister had something to eat. So from a young age I was always trying to make the most of whatever we had in the cupboard. It was trial and error by necessity, which is a good way to learn and improve any skill.

"My childhood was rough. I remember certain times in my childhood I had to go to the neighbour's yard to clean their pig pen and sweep their yard and chop the yard to get food to eat." Growing up with his younger sister, he usually had to prepare meals for her. "I remember one day I was making cabbage and I accidentally put curry in it, and my sister laughed at me so bad it brought tears to my eyes, and I looked at her and said, 'Watch and see, I'm gonna be a great chef one day.' "That inspiration started building from there, from that mistake. I took a negative and turned it into something positive."

Simpson was born in May Pen, Clarendon, and came to live in St Ann on one of his mother’s frequent moves. Simpson, who did his internship at the Club Caribbean hotel, was employed by the resort immediately after high school. Over the years he has grown in the hospitality industry, moving from the cruise ship industry, working in a number of Jamaican hotels and operating his own business to become a renowned chef in the United States. His success includes his own product line, Simpson’s Foods, which produces jerk seasoning, jerk sauce, chutney, pickles, and snacks. Simpson, who hosts a cooking show on Tempo network, said that although poverty impacted his life, he never doubted that he would have accomplished his dreams.