The Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association’s Barbados National Culinary Team is aiming for a three-peat performance at the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s (CHTA) Taste of the Caribbean being staged in Barbados for the first time.
The region’s premier culinary and mixology competition, traditionally held in North Miami, takes place at the Wyndham Grand Barbados Sam Lord’s Castle Resort from Sunday, November 16 to Tuesday November 18 and Barbados is once again going after the Team of the Year title and Gold Awards in the different categories.
No Taste of the Caribbean competition was held between 2020 and 2023 due to the Covid 19 pandemic, and when it resumed in Miami last year, Barbados reclaimed the coveted Caribbean Team of the Year Title which it has last won in 2019.
The winning unit from 2024 returns to compete at home. They are senior chef Rynaldo Joseph, junior chef Dejuan Toppin, pastry chef Rickeena Kirton and mixologist Alex Chandler. The management team is headed by award-winning chef and a former competitor, Javon Cummins, team manager and head coach and includes culinary coach Willis Griffith and Rohan Hackshaw, mixology coach.
The Barbados team goes into competition against St Lucia, Grenada, Guyana, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Turks and Caicos, Bonaire, Puerto Rico and Anguilla, after undergoing intensive training three days per week for the past few months, while the BHTA’s Project Team headed by Special Projects Manager Tessalee Moore worked to ensure the team had everything needed for training and competition.
Today, BHTA officials, headed by chairman Javon Griffith and Chief Executive Officer Ryan Forde, along with hotel representatives and sponsors, toasted the team to success at the Wyndham Grand Sam Lord’s Castle Resort, where the competition outfits were presented to team members. (GC)
