EP 102 Part I: From Chopped Castaway to Culinary Success: Dwight and Sharon's Journey

Host Michael Dugan: 0:52

What happens when two passionate food storytellers come together and turn their love of cooking into a shared mission? In this episode, we meet Dwight Hudgins and Sharon Young, a husband and wife team whose journey is built on creativity, resilience, and a deep connection to food. From Dwight's adventures in the culinary world on "Chopped Castaways" to Sharon's passion for creating memorable flavors, handcrafted products, and meaningful food experiences. Their story shows how two unique voices can create something extraordinary together. Please welcome Sharon and Dwight

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 1:34

Yay.

Host Michael Dugan: 1:35

Love it. Oh my gosh, so excited to have you here. The journey we've taken already has been amazing. but I wanted to start out a little bit. I loved learning about you before, and can you tell us what childhood experiences most shaped the way you think about food, and how does it influence the way you cook today?

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 2:00

Well, go ahead.

Host Michael Dugan: 2:01

Oh, I love it.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 2:03

My childhood experience is growing up in Jamaica around a grandmother, that can cook her… Can, am I allowed to say butt?

Host Michael Dugan: 2:15

Oh, sure. Your butt off.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 2:18

She can cook her butt off.

Host Michael Dugan: 2:19

You can say whatever you want. We're not TV, so yeah, if it comes out.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 2:27

My grandmother was such an amazing cook. Her name was, Viola Jackson, Funny thing is my grandmother on my father's side was Viola, too.

Host Michael Dugan: 2:37

Oh my gosh, I love it. I love it

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 2:39

Vio- actually Viola Dawes, let me correct that because our company is Dawes Distribution named after my grandparents. growing up in Jamaica, I was raised around live chicken, live goat, where they literally killed the goat and you had fresh goat. They killed the chicken, you had fresh chicken on your plate. and nowadays that sounds like cruelty, but that's actually fresh, healthy eating. We would go out and get eggs from the chicken. But my grandmother was always in the in the kitchen and I would be in there with her, and she will teach me little tricks, how to season my food, to always taste my food as I'm cooking, and always cook in season. When everything is in season, that's when you get it, not when it's out of season because it's better when it's in season. So if it's, So here, if it's avocado, you get it in season. If it's mang- a certain type of mango, you get it in season. So anything that you're cooking with, you get it in season. And I can remember people coming over just to taste my grandmother's food. It was so funny. We had a cousin was married. And God rest both their souls. But he would never go home to his wife cooking. He always came to my grandmother's house first, and she always had a plate for him, sitting there waiting for him to eat. And even in the, the church, the church will always have her make something. And of course, Sunday dinners was always everyone at the table together, eating this array of fabulous food that is set out by my grandmother. So it was the most beautiful, thing to be raised around, that level of cooking and food. And especially food that tastes amazing. And growing up, my grandfather was bit of a, pretty much the same way.'Cause mostly, the food cooking and all that stuff, and harvesting of the food came from my granddad. And again, we fished, hunted

Host Michael Dugan: 4:49

Oh, I

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 4:49

what was in season. So certain times of the year you wouldn't take a catfish or a carp because it's in the mud and you don't wanna add that muddy taste, We would harvest the vegetables and the fruit of course when they were in season. There was no such thing, believe it or not, really as always utilizing the refrigerator.'Cause a lot of times we went to the ice house and we had to go get ice, and you got that ice. And your food, you stored from the ice house. We went and literally picked and chipped and bought the ice back and kept some of the food cool or cold to eat. But once, that was done, then you didn't have that food because you didn't have always used refrigerators. So you know, we ate, from the land a lot of times. Again, live chickens, live ducks- Yeah and goats and stuff. But the biggest thing was you wouldn't eat, and this is what he taught me, you wouldn't eat, let's say a squirrel during the wrong season.

Host Michael Dugan: 5:41

Okay.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 5:42

It could be rabid. It could have something in there you don't wanna eat. So those animals and the food was consumed in season. Yes. And that's what we both still try to do to this day, is keep, making products during the right season.

Host Michael Dugan: 5:55

That makes a lot of sense. You also shared a story with me before, Dwight, about cooking for your church, and I was fascinated

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 6:03

like anything else, like when Ca- Sharon spoke about church.'Cause always, growing up church was a big thing for us. Yes. Everybody partook and helped people in need in the, from the church. so my granddad would come and he would wake me up 3:30,

4: 6:16

00 o'clock in the morning. We would jump in the Volkswagen bus that sound like it was about to break down. And we would go over the hills and in the valleys, and we'd go through the old farm ponds, and sit us on the dock. And we would sit there and we would catch bluegills, what we call bream, bluegills, or whatever. We called them panfish. And we would literally fill up buckets full of them, go back, clean'em up, fry 'em until they floated, and then fed people from the church. And that was always a very fond memory. One funny memory I remember though, one time we were on the dock. My granddad slipped off the dock and fell into the pond. And I thought for sure, Granddad was a goner, but all of a sudden he bounced back up out of the water, still had his fishing pole in his hand. And

Host Michael Dugan: 7:04

My gosh.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 7:05

Fishing again.

Host Michael Dugan: 7:06

it brings me back, brings memories back to me. My family didn't fish, but I did. And I remember you just gave me this memory of being in this pond, I think it was called Gordon Pond in Connecticut, and all by myself. My dad would drop me off as a little kid, and I would be all by myself. It's pouring rain and the fish is on, right? And there's lightning coming down, and I got this fishing pole stuck in the air, And I'm like, "I'm gonna get hit," but I'm like, "I'm gonna catch that fish," and we were fishing for pickerel

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 7:37

Oh, wow. Yeah, we've done that. Yep,

Host Michael Dugan: 7:39

man, it was so fun. But it

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 7:40

if that pickeral was on the end of the line and the lightning hit the rod, you would've had a cooked

Host Michael Dugan: 7:44

I would've been, and if my parents found out, oh my gosh. I just-- Yeah, but y- thanks for bringing that memory back for me. I love that you grew up that way. That is, that's, it's magical. it's magical because you carry it forward in your life, and it's obvious that it's in your business. And we're gonna talk a little bit later about that, but the biggest thing is, a lot of people that I interview around the world, they have these stories that connects them to food and culture and family, and it's so amazing to hear it. I just love sharing those stories.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 8:19

it is amazing. when you think about different people from different parts of the world and how everybody always, again, comes back to food. Yes. You have a party, where do most people conjugate? In the kitchen. they rally around in the kitchen. And, you try to get them out of the kitchen, but they come right in the kitchen. And to me the kitchen is the heart of the home. and creating food in the kitchen, it just gives a, brings a connection. down to the very pot that you use. it's like certain pots, you don't wanna get rid of it because it has certain flavors in it. Yeah. And you wanna keep it, one thing my grandmother, cooked with a lot, in Jamaica we cook with She cooked with a pressure cooker, which I'm, still to this day is- … Is afraid of.

Host Michael Dugan: 9:07

Oh, really? Okay

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 9:08

but the, seasoning, those pans or those Dutch pots are seasoned. And, this day my Dutch pots are sacred to me because I remember my grandmother just holding them very sacred."You don't touch it. You don't do this." And I have that same thing. I have a, still have an old aluminum pot that my grandfather used to cook our fish in. And one day, once in a while I'll bring it out, but one day I'm bringing it out, I'm cooking, and I could literally smell my grandfather. Yeah. I just smell, and then my, my… I teared up and everything like that. Now I got goosebumps all up my arm 'cause it just bring back so many memories. So much. Yeah, it brings back memories.

Host Michael Dugan: 9:46

that's amazing. So as we continue on your journey, I want people to understand, like, where did you go? So I know that for you, Dwight, your journey took you through different worlds like agriculture, architecture, a little bit touched on the culinary arts, entrepreneurship, and even television. How have these experiences shaped the way you think about creativity and problem-solving in your business now?

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 10:13

first of all, Sharon and I play off of each other 'cause we bring- Things to the table. We stay in our lane. But growing up, initially I went, I thought, "Oh, I'm gonna be an agricultural engineer and do, agricultural things like that," 'cause both sides of my family had farms and we ate from the land on both sides basically growing up. But then I saw how they were genetically modifying foods, how they were creating synthetic flavors, and things along that nature. Originally, I went to Cook College, Rutgers, which was… Cook College, Rutgers was an agricultural science and research school. and I did stuff with encephalitis, equine encephalitis, West Nile virus, and Lyme disease and stuff, and I said, "You know what? I don't think I'm gonna deal with this the rest of my life." So I actually went into architecture. and as I went into architecture, I traveled around doing different styles of architecture. But in doing those different styles of architecture in different areas, I came across different foods. So a lot of times, like a lot of times what I would do is a natural style of architecture with stone and wood, and learn a different joinery techniques. So you do, African joinery techniques, Scandinavian joinery techniques, Asian joinery techniques. And going to these different places and learning those techniques exposed me to food which I was never exposed to. like I said, growing up with my grandfather and them, we did mostly soul food,

Host Michael Dugan: 11:34

Got it.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 11:35

Which was our big thing. everything was soul food. Yeah. It was collard greens. It was… My grand- grandmother, I mean my grandmother had me making hog head cheese from the

Host Michael Dugan: 11:44

Oh, geez. Oh, wow.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 11:46

Different types of food that I was used to, now all of a sudden they're different, and that kinda opened my eyes that, wow, food can be so different and unique. And that really set me on the path later on to where Sharon and I are now.

Host Michael Dugan: 12:00

I love it. I love it. And Sharon, can you share a little bit about you, you have a unique background as well, and I thought maybe you could share a little bit about that.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 12:09

Absolutely. So of course, growing up in Jamaica, we have our different, culture of eating. But then when I migrated here to the US and was exposed, as Dwight stated, to the different type of food here, even though I'm keeping to my, Jamaican roots, in terms of our food, but I actually went into fashion.

Host Michael Dugan: 12:31

Oh my gosh. Looking awesome.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 12:34

I was, a sales rep in the fashion industry in New York, and I traveled a lot. I traveled a lot to the different corporate offices in Canada, and all over the US, and even in those different region exposed me to different types of food and the different, that each area, even in the US, eats. Because they eat differently in New York as they do in this Florida and as they do in Ohio. So it exposed me to some restaurants and different types of food, as well as internationally, traveling to Italy, traveling to Paris, traveling to, Spain.

Host Michael Dugan: 13:17

I've been to all those places.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 13:18

Oh, my goodness.

Host Michael Dugan: 13:19

They're amazing.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 13:20

I was… Costa Rica. Even though Costa Rica is similar to what I'm used to in Jamaica, it's still different in taste and how they present it. Even in Aruba and, those, those places. So yeah, I was in the fashion industry for 10 years being a sales rep and traveling all over the, the globe, and then midstream I decided to go back to school to get my culinary degree because my second pa- even though my, both my passion was, is fashion and food. And I would be the one in the office always bringing something,

Host Michael Dugan: 13:55

Oh my gosh. My sister-in-law does that.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 13:57

Yeah. I'm always on the weekend creating, making, and then bringing it into the office. I would have my counter at home, like a, pastry shop with the different tiers of pastries and food. and so my friends would come to the house and they would come to me. Oh, and even though I lived alone when I, before Dwight and I got married, but my home was the restaurant at home with pastries and with food. You could always go to Sharon and get something

Host Michael Dugan: 14:30

Oh my gosh. That's amazing.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 14:33

and it's funny how, our design paths led to the same- Yeah … Situation. me being architecture design, and we came back and now we design food.

Host Michael Dugan: 14:44

Oh my God. Oh my gosh, that is so cool.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 14:47

one of the things that's a little different, and which is cool for me there 'cause we bring the different parts to the table, she has more of a formal culinary training. I have more of a in woods, wood side more or less training. My cousin and I, we would go fishing. and a lot of times we didn't have the money to completely afford our salmon fishing trips, let's say, and we would go salmon fishing. And when we caught the fish, I would literally build a smoker out of leaves and branches, smoke the salmon on the bank of the river, and smoke the fish while we were fishing. People would come over and buy fish from us.

Host Michael Dugan: 15:28

Oh, that's so great.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 15:29

It. And then that would pay for our trip,

Host Michael Dugan: 15:32

I get it. Yeah, that's

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 15:33

trip while we were there. Now granted, this was like 20-something years ago, 'cause now you can't do that along the river where we used to go. but it was a cool thing that we can literally cook the food, pay for our trip, and people would come and we would just bring, most of the time it was smoked salmon or teriyaki glaze smoked salmon.

Host Michael Dugan: 15:51

Oh

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 15:52

And it was so simple to do on the side of the river, but it smelled and brought people from all over just to buy from there.

Host Michael Dugan: 15:59

I love it. That's incredible. so as we move along and share this story with everyone, I definitely wanna get into this, but both your stories to me are just fascinating. But Dwight, tell us a little bit about being a contestant on "Chopped" and "Castaway." That's like season one of "Chopped Castaway," right? The first time they ever did it. That's crazy. How did people even reach out to you? how did this evolve?

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 16:26

The funny thing is I'm so proud of him. when I got reached out to, I thought it was a scam.

Host Michael Dugan: 16:33

I know. I know. I get it. I get it

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 16:35

and Sharon are going, "I've been sharing, hon. Somebody I think's trying to scam me saying they wanna put me on a, like a show." And I wasn't that familiar with it. Sharon was very familiar with Chop.

Host Michael Dugan: 16:44

I know, yeah, that's

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 16:45

you would consider a Choppy. Because everything that she

Host Michael Dugan: 16:49

But I'm that way too. I'm that way too. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 16:55

I watch Chop just like tomorrow. It was funny during the holidays she would set up Chop competitions for

Host Michael Dugan: 16:58

Oh, I love it. Oh, yeah. That's awesome. My wife and I do similar things actually. We play this chop game sometimes. Oh, yeah, absolutely. What's in the fridge? What can you… Yeah.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 17:10

Grab stuff out of the air. but it was funny 'cause I wasn't really that familiar with it. So she's like, "Oh, check it out and see what it's about." And we talked and we investigated and it was true that they wanted me to come on this Chopped thing. One thing which was funny that I just found out, 'cause originally they were saying, "Oh, so many people, applied and tried out for it." They said… And what I just actually literally saw today,'cause I don't know why it popped up. There was over 10,000 people

Host Michael Dugan: 17:38

Oh my gosh.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 17:39

The Chopped. Wow. And out of all those 10,000 only 12 of us got on the show,

Host Michael Dugan: 17:43

I know, that's

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 17:44

which was crazy to me. But anyway, they reached out to me, and a lot of these other people there were Michelin star.

Host Michael Dugan: 17:51

I know

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 17:52

they did all different types of cooking, And I'm a hunter gatherer, man. I…

Host Michael Dugan: 17:56

Which is awesome. It's

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 17:58

But he held his own. Yeah. See, I was proud of him. He held

Host Michael Dugan: 18:03

is really cool. That is really

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 18:05

was fun. I'm used to being in the woods, like I was saying about the salmon fishing and stuff like that, so that was one of the things that I really embrace. So when we talked about it and then Sharon go, "Oh yeah, this is, the real deal. You should check it out and go forward," I was excited because that was my element. That's what I wanted to be in. the outdoors, living in the beach, living in the tent, blah, blah, blah. So that's the type of things that I actually really like to embrace. you know what the funny thing is? This one over here, she had me in like Chopped training.

Host Michael Dugan: 18:36

Oh, I love it. Oh, yeah. That is so cool

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 18:42

So one of the things is I'm a smoker. Like I love to smoke food. He slow cooks food. I smoke food. So I could cook a piece of meat for 12, 14 hours. Like we literally will cook an alligator for 22, 24 hours.

Host Michael Dugan: 18:55

Wait, what does alligator taste like? we gotta share that. What is it? It's not like chicken, right?'Cause that's what everybody says about

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 19:01

when they fry them in the carnivals they taste like chicken. But what we do is we teach you how to clean and de-fat the alligator. We stuff it with sauteed onions and cream cheese. We glaze it in one of our Barbara's Kitchen, pepper jams. Then we use, apple wood and pecan wood and smoke it for about 18 to 24 hours, depending on how big it

Host Michael Dugan: 19:22

I'm coming over right now. I gotta try alligator. What does

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 19:25

when it comes out, it tastes like a It tastes like a light, Pork tenderloin.

Host Michael Dugan: 19:29

Wow. Oh my

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 19:31

But you- It's not fishy tasting at all.

Host Michael Dugan: 19:33

And there's so many in Florida.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 19:36

Oh, yeah. For me is to take the ribs. I don't tell people, the ribs taste the best. So you take that rib meat and you put some pepper jam on it with a little cream cheese. It's so good, You just wanna make sure you don't eat an alligator that ate a bunch of people.

Host Michael Dugan: 19:51

That's what I've learned from this show today. It's gotta be in season.

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 19:55

Yeah, those alligators aren't in season.

Host Michael Dugan: 19:58

So what about I know people wanna know, but what is it like to be on "Chopped"? what is that is it frustrating? Is it too much drama? obviously

Guest: Dwight and Sharon: 20:08

wasn't a, it wasn't a lot of drama per se, but the thing that gets me is that, and this is just between us and all the other people listening,

Host Michael Dugan: 20:15

We invite you to listen to part two coming tomorrow. Dwight and Sharon reflect on Dwight's time on Chopped Castaways, emphasizing that what viewers see isn't the full story. The couple shares how they work together by staying in your lane, leaning on each other's strengths, managing food allergies and preferences, and keeping communication and humor at the center of their partnership. They explain their mission to create food experiences rooted in family legacy, education, and health-focused ingredients. Stay tuned