Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands: Monday, September 25, 2017 – Despite being the “new kids on the block”
when they competed for the first time at the 4th Annual Caribbean Junior Duelling Challenge, Team TCI brought home
the Gold as well as the title Caribbean Junior Duelling Challenge Champions.
The Team attended educational sessions for the first 3 days, before the two-day Competition commenced on August 24.
Team TCI represented by Junior Chefs Christin Green and Kentisha Hall, competed for the title against eight other
Caribbean countries including Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman, Dominica, Grenada, St. Croix, St. Lucia and Trinidad and
Tobago. This year’s Competition was extra special as the teams showcased their culinary skills in front of over 1000
patrons attending the 13th annual Carifesta in Barbados. The theme for this year’s Carifesta XIII was “Asserting Our
Culture, Celebrating Ourselves” and Team TCI did just that when they prepared signature dishes using ingredients like
Hog Bush and Moringa, ingredients used by their grandmothers in their day to day cooking.
Nicholette Thomas, TCHTA’s Office Manager and Team TCI’s chaperon for the Competition stated, “We could not have
selected a better team to represent TCI at this year’s Caribbean Junior Duelling Challenge. The professionalism, culinary
skills and maturity displayed by Christin and Kentisha put TCI on top from the get go. They are truly two remarkable
young adults and will definitely succeed in the culinary world. Chef Edwin Gallardo who has been mentoring the team for
the last 8 weeks also attended the Competition with us and provided the Chefs with much needed support. He guided
them without restricting them from using their creativity, which was evident in the dishes they prepared.”
Thomas added, “The highlight of the trip for us was not only winning Gold but seeing Chef Gallardo climb a Moringa tree
in the darkness, while dressed for a semi-formal event to secure leaves for the national dishes. His determination to see
his team succeed even made headlines in the local Barbados news.”
After the first two rounds of the Competition which were the signature National Dish and a mystery basket, Kentisha and
Christin received the highest score of 43.35 out of 50, beating Barbados, Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada and Trinidad &
Tobago for top place. The top three teams, Turks and Caicos, Cayman Islands and St. Lucia then competed in the final
mystery basket for the title of Caribbean Junior Duelling Chefs which resulted in Team TCI becoming the reigning
Champions.
Sponsors which made it possible for the team to compete include Ministry of Culture, TCHTA, Seven Stars Resort, Provo
Gold and Country Club.
