Orande Johnson successfully defended his title to be once again crowned the Courts ‘Cook off’ champion.{{more}}

Johnson, the 2008 champion, got the judges’ nod for his Caribbean version of sushi, beating out the five other finalists.

The competition was not held in 2009.

“When you talk about sushi, people think about raw fish, but it actually means vegetable rice,” he explained.

Johnson said he started preparing Asian cuisine some three years ago, but says this is the first time that he was granted an opportunity to display his culinary versatility to the public.

Johnson credited his success to reading and to taking the art of cooking very seriously.

And this is just what the competition set out to achieve, said Alexis John, Courts St Vincent Head of Marketing.

“We wanted to assist in the development of the tourism product,” John said.

Competition was open to amateur chefs serious about entering a career in the hospitality sector.

He announced that Courts hoped to make the competition an annual event and promised that next year’s competition will be bigger and better as Courts has partnered with the Hotel and Tourism Association.

Melford O’ Garro second and Carmine Richards third rounded up the top three performers.(DD)