For thirteen years, she stood in front of a classroom, teaching biology to teenagers and encouraging them to explore the wonders of science. But somewhere between lesson plans and lab experiments, a quiet dream began to rise, one that smelled of freshly baked bread.
In 2019, she made a bold decision. “I realized I wasn’t getting the chance to grow further in my career,” she says. “At the same time, I was searching for a bread with high nutritional value for my children. That’s when I started baking.”
What began as a simple act of love, a mother baking healthy bread for her kids, soon turned into a passion that would take her across continents.
A New Chapter: Becoming a Bread Sommelier
In Germany, a new profession had been gaining recognition, that of the Bread Sommelier, a specialist trained to understand bread the way wine sommeliers understand wines. By 2024, the first group of international Bread Sommeliers had been certified, and Zaida proudly stood among them. The only representative from the Caribbean.
“It’s a one-year program at the Bread Academy in Weinheim,” she explains. “We had to study the theory online, write a thesis, and then complete practical exams in person.”
Her curiosity about bread deepened. She was blown away by its history, its chemistry, its soul. She learned to recognize aromas, understand fermentation, and even trained her sense of smell with a kit of 52 different scents. “In the beginning, I got almost everything wrong,” she laughs. “But over time, I developed a ‘smell memory.’ Now I can recognize them instantly.”
The Championship in Düsseldorf
Then came the World Championship for Bread Sommeliers in Düsseldorf. The first of its kind. Forty-five participants from around the world competed, only sixteen advancing to the finals.
“We had to identify and describe breads from around the world, recognize aromas, answer historical and technical questions and finally, do a live tasting presentation before an audience.”
It was a male-dominated field, but that didn’t intimidate Zaida. “We were just five women among dozens of men. It was empowering. People were amazed to learn that someone from Aruba, a small island so far from Europe had such passion for bread.”
Her journey to Düsseldorf was more than a competition. It was a declaration: that passion, knowledge, and purpose can rise just like dough, from the most unexpected places.