Local culinary skills exhibited at Vincy Flavours competition

The chief judge at the recent Vincy Flavours competition believes that much more effort needs to be put into the development of culinary skills here.{{more}}

Barbadian John Hazzard, who was judging the local culinary competition for the second year running, told SEARCHLIGHT that while he saw a lot of skills on display in this year’s competition, he was somewhat disappointed with the performance of the senior chefs.

Hazzard explained that some of the participants in the senior category also competed last year and he expected them to have sharpened their competing skills much more.

He also identified a blatant weakness in the knife skills of the competitors in all the categories and said that there was a general need for participants to practice better sanitation at their workstations.

Hazzard, however, had high praise for the local chefs’ creativity, saying that they displayed good imagination in their menus, which were created from the designated featured foods: Okra, Pumpkin, ECGC Brown Rice, Eddoes, and peas (pigeon, lentil, red kidney and yellow split).

+The other featured items were Herbs (marjoram, fine leaf thyme), Pawpaw (green and ripe), and St. Vincent Distillers Captain Bligh Golden Rum.

Grenadian Hospitality trainer Christopher Ghita was the chief judge in the bartending competition.

Ghita, who was judging the competition for the first time applauded the efforts of the bartenders, who competed in the alcoholic and non alcoholic segments.

He said that there is room for improvement in the area of sanitation and best practice in the bartending profession, but said he saw enough to know that it is an industry that can grow nicely in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

He said that opportunities must be created for the bartenders to compete in regional competitions first and then, if possible international challenges, which he says can bring popularity to the island, once they do well.

Joemilia Jackson walked away with top honours in the Junior Entrée’ section, while Neil Cromwell took the honours in the junior desert segment.

Enos Roberts and Melford O’Garro of the Young Island Resort and Gospel Plus Café were the winners in the Intermediate Entrée’ and Dessert category respectively, while Colin James of Young Island was the top dog in the premier Senior Entree’ section.

In the bartending competition, Neil Da Silva of Young Island Resort walked away with the non-alcoholic drinks award, while Kings Fields won the Captain Bligh Rum Bar and Beverage contest.

Vincy Flavours was organized by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Hotel and Tourism Association and was sponsored by Centre for Enterprise Development Business Gateway Project, Courts St. Vincent Ltd, and St. Vincent Distillers, Captain Bligh Golden Rum.

The competition was held at Heritage Square in Kingstown on Saturday November 22nd.