The Trinidad and To­ba­go culi­nary team has once again proven it is the best in the re­gion by tak­ing home it's fifth Caribbean Team of the Year ti­tle in six years at the re­cent­ly con­clud­ed Taste of the Caribbean culi­nary com­pe­ti­tion, the most by any coun­try.Lead by team-cap­tain Ray­mond Joseph, T&T al­so won gold in the Chef of the Year and Bar­tender com­pe­ti­tions.The com­pe­ti­tion was or­gan­ised by the Caribbean Ho­tel Tourism As­so­ci­a­tion, and host­ed at the Hy­att Re­gency Mi­a­mi ho­tel from June 22-26.It in­volved 16 re­gion­al teams that in­clud­ed An­guil­la, Ba­hamas, Bar­ba­dos, Bonaire, British Vir­gin Is­lands, Cu­raçao, Ja­maica, Puer­to Ri­co, St Lu­cia, T&T and the Unit­ed States Vir­gin Is­lands.Each team pre­pared and pre­sent­ed food and drink that were judged on taste, ex­e­cu­tion of skills and pre­sen­ta­tion.

Mem­bers of the 2011 lo­cal Na­tion­al Culi­nary Team were Adri­an Cum­ber­batch (Carl­ton Sa­van­nah Ho­tel), bar­tender Danyiel Jones (Mar­ti­ni Mak­ers, Trinidad), al­ter­nate bar­tender Abi­o­la Jules (Hy­att Re­gency Trinidad), chef Ryan Bai­ley (Hy­att Re­gency Trinidad), chef Je­re­my Lovell (Court­yard Mar­riott Ho­tel), chef De­von Joseph (Chaud Restau­rant), pas­try chef Cheryl Shorrt-Charles (Trinidad and To­ba­go Hos­pi­tal­i­ty and Tourism In­sti­tute) and team cap­tain chef Ray­mond Joseph (Hy­att Re­gency Trinidad).Oth­er medals and awards achieved by the eight-mem­ber team in­clud­ed sil­ver in the Pas­try Chef of the Year and Ju­nior Chef of the Year com­pe­ti­tions; bronze in the Seafood and Beef Mys­tery Bas­ket com­pe­ti­tions; and First Place ho­n­ours in the bar­tender com­pe­ti­tion-Vod­ka, Rum and Best Cock­tail cat­e­gories.