BELIZEAN CHEFS AND BARTENDERS BLAZE A TRAIL WITH GOURMET
DISHES AND EXOTIC DRINKS!
A presentation of culinary excellence, the Belize Tourism Board held its 8th Annual Taste of Belize Culinary Competition on Saturday, August 29th, at the Old Belize Adventure Cultural and Historic Center which attracted the participation of 12 professional chefs, 5 young professional chefs and 9 bartenders, 5 cake decorators and an audience of over 700 attendees.
Visitors and participants alike book this event as a highpoint on their pre- September celebrations calendar (Belize's month of independence celebrations). Beach games, fun in the sun, tantalizing cuisine and mix drinks galore. If you were not there, you missed out on a good time; but even worse, your taste buds definitely missed out big time!
"Taste of Belize" is Belize's signature culinary competition' geared at developing the Culinary Arts in Belize.
Competitors in all categories come to wow the judges and impress the visitor.
The Professional Chef 2009 was awarded to Victor Nal who had to:
-
Create a unique dish using his/her choice of ingredients. This dish could have been an appetizer, main dish or dessert and should have reflected Belizean or regional cuisine.
Bartender 2009 was Mariano Coc who rose to the challenge of:
- Creating a signature drink; giving the audience and judges a sample of for their stamp of approval.
Young Professional/Apprentice 2009, Ernest Bradley was tasked with:
- Creating a unique dish using his choice of ingredients; competitors had to prepare a main dish that reflects Belizean and/or regional cuisine.
In the Cake Decorating Competition – the theme was "a Belizean Wedding" and the Teresita Choco, captured the title of "Cake Decorator of the Year 2009" for her "Vanilla Yellow Cake."
The Gala night included cultural entertainment from Kenny Gladden and the New Creation Band and MC's were William Neal and Gwen Nunez Gonzalez. This year's event also included displays from Grace Kennedy Belize Limited and Madisco.
Want to meet the top three winners in each category?
