Team TCI walked away with 5 Golds, 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze at the recently concluded Taste of the Caribbean in Florida, Miami.
The relatively young team managed by veteran chef Colin Watson and TCHTA’s Stacy Cox, created some much talked about dishes and cocktails despite this being TCI’s 2nd representation at the competition in the last 10 years. With 2017 seeing tremendous improvement from the previous year Team TCI is already discussing their strategy to win the Caribbean National Team of the Year in 2018.
• Caribbean National Team of the Year – Gold
• Caribbean Chef of the Year – Gold – Chef Edwin Gallardo, Seven Stars Resort
• Caribbean Pastry Chef of the Year – Gold – Chef Yoginder Singh, Beaches Resort
• Caribbean Junior Chef of the Year – Gold – Chef Martin Wilkiens – Seven Stars Resort
• Caribbean Seafood Competition – Gold – Chef Edwin Gallardo, Seven Stars Resort
• Caribbean Beef Competition – Silver – Chef Joseph Charles, Grace Bay Resorts
• Caribbean Chocolate Competition – Silver – Chef Yoginder Singh, Beaches Resort
• Caribbean Bartender of the Year – Bronze – Jean Tissaint, Seven Stars Resort
As food enthusiasts spent June 02 – 06 savouring not only creations from TCI but from across the Caribbean, along with embracing the various cultures, “Mama Bear” Stacy Cox noted, “I could not be prouder of this team, the commitment and drive to win and put TCI on the culinary map amazes me every year. The training they endured leading up to Taste of the Caribbean including Taste of Tapas truly paid off as they were able to stand alongside seasoned teams like Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica and still walk away with five Gold awards.
When the team wasn’t competing they were busy participating in a number of educational seminars for food and beverage professionals, which allowed them to broaden their skills and techniques. Skills which I know they will share with our Lit’l Chefs at this year’s Hospitality Adventure Summer Camps next month.”
The team included Team Manager Colin Watson, Yoginder Singh, Edwin Gallardo, Joseph Charles and Lit’l Chefs alumni Martin Wilkiens, Robinangel Simmons, Jean Tissaint, Korea Rolle and Christin Greene who is also currently a culinary student at TCICC.
Presented by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), Taste of the Caribbean is an annual event that highlights the art of Caribbean cooking as it brings together top chefs and bartenders from the region to compete for honours in a variety of food and beverage competitions.
