SOME CHOCOLATE LOVERS got their fill of the sweet treat last weekend at the first annual Chocolate Festival at Savannah Hotel.
At the event organised by Margaret King, the chocolates, cakes, cupcakes, loaves, chocolate pasta, chocolate showpieces, sugar work showpieces, spreads, ice creams, clay jewellery that looked like sweet treats and wines that pair well with chocolate made several mouths water.
Whether it was executive chef of Coconut Bay Resort in St Lucia, Veejooruth Purnessur, and his junior pastry chef Ronald Estephane showing their craftsmanship with chocolate when they made a showpiece (below, right) or cakes or Barbadian award-winning chef Ezra Beckles, who made a showpiece out of isomalt and sugar right before their eyes, there was something for everyone. 
King told WEEKEND BUZZ that she attended one chocolate festival in the United States and was prompted to do one on her own. During a trip to St Lucia, she invited chef Purnessur to attend the show after sampling his Friday night chocolate buffet.
“I told him about the event and he said I’m coming . . . . Chef Ezra Beckles was very influential in helping me and of course his really beautiful sugar work,” she added.
The organiser said that the response to the inaugural event was “phenomenal” and totally unexpected.
“I had no idea that this many people would come. We sold over 500 tickets . . . . It blew my mind,” she said.
She has already started planning the 2016 edition.
Organiser of the festival Margaret King.
St Lucian exhibitor Theresa Peters, who owns Suenos de Chocolate, said the trip was very worthwhile for her. She gave patrons a taste of her melt away – a mint chocolate drink – and a fudge chocolate cookie.
The response to her products was so good that she intends to return next year.
“We get our chocolate from St Lucia, as we do grow cocoa there and also buy it from Grenada . . . . My mum would say from the time I could walk ’cause I love chocolate,” she said with a laugh.
“The business came about because every time I made something everybody wanted to know how much was it and how they could get it.
“When Margaret was in St Lucia she saw my page on Facebook . . . . She fell in love and asked me to come. The response has been very good and [patrons] are also asking me to open up here,”she added.
Confectionary sales supervisor at Bryden Stokes, David Browne also gave the event a thumbs up.
He said given the brands that they have they thought it was important to be a part of the event to showcase the products.
“The show today [Saturday] has been phenomenal, both in attendance as well as the feedback from people trying some of our new products like the Hershey’s spreads. It’s been unreal,” he said.
Cindya Dupre (left) and Leslie Ostalie getting Oh Henry samples from Tasha Lowe.
King, who is also a chocolatier, hopes to showcase her products next year.
“I started making chocolates here last year. Around Valentine’s I started making some desserts and making a little bit of carrot and cheese cakes for a deli. Then I went back to doing chocolate which I hadn’t done for years and years.
“When my kids were little I would make chocolate bars, kind of like a crunch bar, nowhere as sophisticated as you would see today from these chefs. I used to make chocolate roses which were a favourite and chocolate bars for corporations but I stopped doing that . . . .
“Life got in the way and after I started doing the cakes I decided to start doing chocolate,” she said.
Most of the attendees who spoke to WEEKEND BUZZ said the only problem they had with the event was “not enough chocolate” but they said they would “definitely” be returning for round two. (Green Bananas Media)
