Johnson cooks up a storm at Courts Cook off

Nail Technician Oronde “Akah” Johnson is $1000 richer after his stuffed sweet potatoes pricked the judges’ taste buds to put him in first position in the Courts St Vincent “Cook off competition”.{{more}}

The overwhelmed Dasent Cottage resident told Searchlight that he “loves food and experimenting with food”. He said he is innovative when it comes to recipes, and his kitchen is his lab. Johnson said that he would be taking his earnings to purchase more “tools and gadgets for my kitchen”. The public can look forward to his cook book in the not too distant future.

Taking the second position was second year hospitality student at the Technical College, Ianthi Sam. She walked away with an Oster toaster oven. The future chef said that she entered the competition because the ad on television asks if you’ve got what it takes, and “I know I have what it takes so I entered”. The 20-year-old said she loves competing because “it gives me a chance to learn about the different ways I can prepare food”. She baked a sweet potato checkered cake with sweet potato rum sauce.

With her sweet potato pudding Ishbell Brown took the third position. Brown said that cooking has always been her passion. “I love to cook,” she said. The competition, she said, was an easy one because her pudding is a family tradition which has the unique ingredient of ripe bananas. Browne received an Oster Blender.

Court’s General Manager Edward Newman said that he is happy that they were able to have the competition “so that we can showcase the different ways we can use sweet potatoes in our local diets”. He said we have to substitute “local foods because of the increased cost of imported foods”.

Marketing Executive Alexis Harry-John said the cook off contest was developed with two main objectives in mind. They seek to showcase Courts kitchen appliances and to bring to light different dishes using sweet potatoes as the main ingredient. As well as “to create an environment whereby amateur cooks can showcase their cooking skills using the best appliances”.

The other two participants were Abuza Nimah and Carmen Richards.(VM)