Tobago Blue Food Festival honours T&T’s 50th anniversary

Dasheen and saltfish will be among the mouth-watering dishes to be featured at the 2012 edition of  The Tobago Blue Food Festival next Sunday at Bloody Bay Village, Tobago. The event is co-ordinated by the Division of Tourism and Transportation of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), in collaboration with the Bloody Bay, L’Anse Fourmi and Parlatuvier Village Councils. Established  blue food specialists like perennial winner Yzanne Williams-Chance and former participants Casilda Charles and Charlene John will do cooking demonstrations of their specialty dishes.

 

Aisha Sylvester, communications specialist at the Division of Tourism and Transportation, said this year’s festival is in honour of T&T’s 50th anniversary and the venue will be decorated in the national colours of red, white and black.” “Bloody Bay will be transformed into an epicurean expo as local cooks demonstrate their skills by transforming the commonly used dasheen into innovative entrees, creative desserts, robust liqueurs and inventive appetizers,” Sylvester told the Sunday Guardian. “More cooks, more entertainers and some interesting new activities will make this the biggest Blue Food Festival Tobago has ever seen. Local cooks are expected to ‘tun up’ the pot to create dynamic dasheen dishes.” 

 

Sylvester said the annual festival is an opportunity to promote Tobago as a tourism destination, stimulate economic activity within the tourism business unit and showcase the island’s most delectable signature delicacies. Other attractions will include a crayfish competition, a petting zoo for children and live entertainment by Tobago's most celebrated artistes including Les Couteaux’s Shadow, Fire Fusion and Johnny King. For the main event, 25 cooks from L’Anse Fourmi and Parlatuvier will compete in several categories­­ including best overall dasheen dish, most creative dasheen dish, best dasheen dessert and best dasheen beverage.