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Bloomingdale’s flagship located at 59th Street in New York City hosted their annual Mother’s Day Party on May 10th from 1 PM-5 PM. On level eight in the home section, the aroma of spicy jerk pork filled the floor, where the mother-daughter duo 2 Girls & a Cookshop are preparing their genius signature Jamaican Jerk Tacos.

The 2 Girls & a Cookshop chefs, mother and CEO Shelly Flash (aka Ms. Flash) and daughter Jataun Flash, performed a live cookshop demo preparing free samples of their signature Jamaican jerk tacos. Bloomie’s shoppers line up to taste the tacos that come with the Jamaican flag toothpick proudly on top for representation.

As the pot sizzles with Jataun at the stove, the dynamic mother-daughter team has been working together since 2018 in Brooklyn, NY, when they started their full-time pop-up brick-and-mortar and catering restaurant.

“We saw a gap where first-gen and second-gen weren’t represented in food.” said Shelly.” We decided to put our spin on our culture. A lot of times when you’re a first-gen or second-gen, you’re not Jamaican enough, or you’re not American enough. We are raising the culture, and decided to do something that was us.” she said.

Shelly, the first-generation Jamaican-American started as a volunteer chef assistant at Food Network’s New York City Wine & Food Festival’s “Tacos & Tequila After Dark” event. In 2022, Shelly and Jataun took home the Best Taco award from the very same event.

The duo also won the first PROOF Pitch Program with the community organization Hot Bread Kitchen. Shelly delivered a grand prize-winning presentation. Shelly is planning a brick-and-mortar store coming soon.

Shelly devised an innovative idea to put “culture in a taco” and blend traditional Jamaican meals with the convenience of a taco as New York City street food. In eight years, 2 Girls has received numerous accolades from Food Network, Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race, NYCWFF, Fox’s MasterChef, Essence Festival of Culture, New York’s Smorgasburg, Apple’s Music 50 Years of Hip-Hop Anniversary, Art Basel, AfroPunk and now with Bloomingdale’s.

“We were invited by Bloomingdale’s, to share what we do with all the ongoing customers coming in Bloomingdales. My favorite part is being inside Bloomingdale’s, and the fact ,I was raised going to department stores on Saturdays with my mom. When I got the call from Bloomingdale’s, I was like, Of course, we’re going to show up and do it!” said Shelly. “This is a full-of-circle moment!”

As Bloomie’s shoppers lined up, to sample the sweet and spicy jerk tacos, Shelly took a moment to share how proud she was to work with her daughter inside the iconic department store.

 “This is something I grew up going to as a little girl and my daughter would come here as well.  That fact we get serve is huge for us!” said Shelly.

Two Girls & Cookshop will make upcoming appearances at Taco Tuesdays at Angela Yee’s coffee shop in Brooklyn, Coffee Uplifts People (CUP) at 329 Gates Avenue, every Friday at Smorgasburg WTC located at the Oculus Plaza at 185 Greenwich Street, and, every Sunday at Smorgasburg Prospect Park located in Breeze Hill Brooklyn and Lincoln Road entrance from 11 AM-6 PM.