Months of arduous training and live rehearsals will soon culminate for the members of 16 national culinary teams from across the region, who travel this week to Miami, Florida, to compete in the…
Months of arduous training and live rehearsals will soon culminate for the members of 16 national culinary teams from across the region, who travel this week to Miami, Florida, to compete in the annual culinary competition and all-Caribbean food and beverage showcase, Taste of the Caribbean 2006. The event, presented by the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) and Bahama Breeze, will take place at the Hyatt Regency Miami, June 26-29, 2006.
The competition features 16 teams of Caribbean chefs, each of whom won local culinary contests in their home countries. The teams will participate in qualifying rounds of live kitchen competitions, preparing a three-course meal for 25 people in under four hours, using a “mystery basket” of ingredients that is kept secret until the competition begins. The competing culinary teams are from Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Curacao, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Sint Maarten / St. Martin, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, and United States Virgin Islands.
“It’s exciting to watch these masters at work, as they sift, chop, saute, reduce, and garnish indigenous Caribbean ingredients to create artistic, mouth-watering delicacies, right before your very eyes,” said Rick Crossland, Senior Vice President of Culinary Development for Bahama Breeze and Head Judge of Taste of the Caribbean. “It’s especially interesting for me in my role at Bahama Breeze, because we really try to bring the freshness and variety of the Caribbean to American dining,” he added.
In addition to the cooking competition, each national culinary team will also host a demonstration of its country’s indigenous cuisine, highlighting the region’s diversity and variety. “Caribbean cuisine is a true representation of all the cultural and migratory influences the region has welcomed since Christopher Columbus arrived on its beaches in 1492,” said Alec Sanguinetti, Director General and CEO of CHA. “From native Indians, European settlers, and African slaves to more recent migratory streams, such as Arabic, Asian, other European and Hindu, all have amalgamated their individual histories into the Caribbean collective self and added their spices, flavors, and techniques to its cuisine.”
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