The Anguilla National Culinary Team has set the stage for its participation in this year’s Taste of the Caribbean Competition to be held inMiami,Florida, in June.
The event was the team’s Second Annual Food Showcase at Aleta Restaurant, Viceroy, on Sunday evening, April 29, to raise funds for the team’s participation.
The restaurant’s pool area was ringed with various food stalls and dining facilities where a wide range of tasty samples of delectable cuisine were served to almost three hundred visitors and residents.
The event was presented by the National Culinary Team, representing a number of hotels and restaurants, and the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association (AHTA) through its Executive Director, Gilda Gumbs-Samuel.
Mrs. Gumbs-Samuel told The Anguillian that the event was the brainchild of Viceroy’s General Manager, Jeff David. “He is a Board member of the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association, and we were looking for a way out when the Government of Anguilla had no money to assist the culinary team to represent Anguilla,” she stated. “He told me I can have the pool side at Aleta’s Restaurant and ‘Viceroy can organise it. Just bring the chefs and we will have an event to raise funds.’ Last year, we had about 102 people in attendance and this time we sold at least 260 tickets.”
“This event is a success story for Viceroy and the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association. It allows us to be able to book the culinary team, comprising all Anguillian chefs, into the hotel in Miami where the Taste of the Caribbean Culinary Competition takes place. The funds from this event, and whatever else assistance we get from the Anguilla Tourist Board, through Candis Niles, will actually pay for the culinary team to travel to Miami and back.”
Mrs. Gumbs-Samuel said that the team would leave Anguilla forMiamion June 18 and return in a week’s time. “We will be representing Anguilla with a full-fledged team of six chefs, two senior culinary chefs, a pastry chef, a junior chef and a bar tender. They will be accompanied by a manager. We will also have two individual cooks. Last year, Lester Gumbs won Best Seafood Chef in the entire Caribbean, and we are also hoping to capture the title of Best Beef Chef in the Caribbean.”
Mrs. Gumbs-Samuel and Viceroy’s Chef de Cuisine, George Reid, were grateful to all who attended the fund-raising food show and to the chefs from the various hotels and restaurants for their participation.
Meanwhile, the National Culinary Team and the AHTA honoured Vernon Hughes, Executive Chef at Ev’s Oven, for his pioneering work over the years which had been of much assistance to aspiring chefs. George Reid, known for his exceptional cooking skills, said that Hughes was once part of the National Culinary Team and had contributed much to its development.
