This Rising Star Chef Is Black, Vegan — And Only 11 Years Old
U.K. tween Omari McQueen began to cook at age 7, when his mother experienced paralyzing migraines. It wasn't long before he appeared on TV, opened a trendy food hall booth and sat on an expert panel.
An 11-year-old boy recently hit up 53-year-old Roger Wade on LinkedIn, wishing to open a restaurant one day. Wade wrote back: Why not now?
When Wade, CEO of Boxpark, a chain of hip food halls in London, was 11 years old himself, he sold candy to his schoolmates. He cited that memory as a heartstring plucked by Omari McQueen, the 11-year-old LinkedIn user. "Age doesn't define a person any more than gender or race does," Wade said. "We were happy to support a dream. Omari is a role model for dreaming big."
Wade waived the £1,000 rent for a weeklong, who, in 2011, became a foodie wunderkind at 11 1/2 by running a restaurant out of his California home (and charging $160 a head when he debuted in New York).
