The Third Annual Turks and Caicos Food and Culture Festival will see two days of activities that celebrate local cuisine while highlighting TCI culture and heritage.
The festival kicks off with the Chop Off Cooking Challenge on Friday, November 30th at the Ports of Call Courtyard in Providenciales.
The Chop Off is a 3-round cooking competition where top chefs from around the country will have have a limited time to create phenomenal dishes using a basket of unknown ingredients–also known as the mystery basket. Each round will call for a different course and chefs will have to turn out creations that excite the crowd and the judges until there is only only culinary master left standing.
This year, four chefs will compete.
Chef Gregory Lightbourne is representing Providenciales.
Chef Jenny Talbot is team North Caicos.
Chef Ronieka Harvey will bring flavors from South Caicos.
And Chef Jago Moore is doing it big for the nation’s capital, Grand Turk.
The Turks and Caicos Food and Culture Festival is the brainchild of Nikita “Chef Nik” Skippings: Culinary Ambassador of the TCI and the owner and proprietor of Crackpot Kitchen enterprises.
Son of Smokey’s on Da Beach founder, Aldon “Smokey” Smith, cooking runs in Chef Nik’s blood. He incorporates his father’s Lobsterfest into day 2 of the Turks and Caicos Food and Culture Festival.
Chef Nik explained that the addition of a Providenciales-based chef to this year’s Chop Off is sure to shake things up.
Through the competition, he seeks to create a platform for chefs islandwide to show off their skills and build their businesses.
Last year’s Chop Off champion won a brand new car courtesy of Kia Motors and overall prizes with a cash valued amount of over $70,000. Chef Nik said the rewards for this year’s winner will be even bigger.
A panel of judges will decide who takes home the Chop Off Champion title.
This year’s judges include Nikheel Advani, COO of Grace Bay Resorts, Mrs. Deleriece Hall, Country Manager of Flow TCI, Mr. Bradley Theodore, a world-renowned artist from the TCI and Mrs. Joanne Hagan who will represent the Shore Club, The Palms and the Sands.
Tickets are on sale now. Standard $50. VIP $85.
