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Budding chefs get Sandals support!

Posted by CaribShout on October 24, 2009 at 2:53pm

The winners and the runners-up in the Sandals Schools Culinary program (Written By: Kayra Williams) Fourteen students who had been taken under the Sandals’ wing for an intensive culinary training program this week got the chance to prove to their instructors that time spent tutoring them was not spent in vain. Students spent 12 weeks at various Sandals Resorts on the island engaged in personalized and group training sessions from exclusive hotel chefs. The closing ceremony for the Sandals Schools Culinary Award program was held at the Sandals Grande Resort on Monday and on the occasion, students stepped into high gear for a determining final cook-off. Trainees included Heidi Cherubin and Leann Theodore from Anse Ger Secondary, Krystal Cenac, Brittany Bertrand, Hillana Hilaire, Steffie Shande Marius and Jamie Dolcy from the Sir Authur Lewis Community College, (SALCC) Carnecius Grant; Gros Islet Secondary, Noelita Trench and Abigail Edward; St Joseph’s Convent, Katana Eugene, Anna Bretney and Sherwin Aaron; Babonneau Secondary and Dwight Degazon from the Castries Comprehensive Secondary School. The 14 students were split up into groups of two for the cooking challenge that required each group to prepare a one-course meal in one hour. The catch to the whole challenge was that none of the participants knew what they’d be making, or the ingredients that would be available until competition day. Speaking to one contender, Jamie Dolcy before the competition, the SALCC student said he’d decided to take part in the competition simply because he had a love for food and wanted to improve his culinary skills.

Chef Robbie checks out what the competitors are cooking up in a competition that would test their skills in terms of preparation, speed and taste! Chef Robbie checks out what the competitors are cooking up in a competition that would test their skills in terms of preparation, speed and taste! “In life you have to develop your skills so I decided to find something, to put myself into something that would help bring me forward,” he said. “For this challenge we have to prepare one meal, either a soup, main course, salad or appetizer. Right now we’ve planned our menus, now we just have to do what we have to do to win.” Other competitors were not as clear on the instructions but in the end, one and a half hours after the slated start time, the hustle began. Pots of water were set on portable stoves for those who needed it to start their dishes and others scrambled for the right proportions of ingredients and outright grabbed onto fish or whole chicken. Vegetables were chopped in record time as students sped on to complete each part of their meal. Some teams appeared confident from the start and sailed through to the end of the competition. In no time at all, the room was filled with a blend of delicious aroma while Sandals employees, family and friends of students looked on. Three sponsors of the event, Renwick and Company, St Lucia Distillers and Ferrands Ice Cream, provided patrons with ice cream, slurpies and other samples for the duration of the cook-off. When the hour was up, invitees were ushered into the ballroom for lunch, and students lined up their dishes for judging. Sandals Resorts International’s regional director for the Eastern Caribbean, Jeremy Jones, said the event was a manifestation of a vision, in what Sandals perceived to be the future of the hospitality industry. “We have a lot of talent here in St Lucia and we’re doing ourselves a disservice if we don’t provide the opportunity of coaching and teaching and training, to become chefs of the future. Anywhere you go a chef is someone to be celebrated. We’re getting a chance to see them because cooking is all about show, its all about presentation . . . for their first time cooking in a public forum like this think they did a really good job. When students joined the rest of the group for lunch hotel chefs spoke about what it entailed to be in the profession. Chef Xavier, one of the competition judges, noted that one had to be a cook before being a chef.

Thanks to Sandals, students from all over the island who havd an interest in learning about food were exposed to advice from leading chefs on the island. Thanks to Sandals, students from all over the island who had an interest in learning about food were exposed to advice from leading chefs on the island. “Don’t call yourself a chef until you know how to cook. It’s a lot of pressure and you have to have passion for the job. When everyone is out there partying, you have to work. Christmas, vacation . . . you need to love what you do or you won’t be able to get through.” Kevin White, a retired chef, now managing director of Crown Foods and Robert Skeete from Caribbean Pirates Restaurants were two other competition judges. The results came after that speeches and in that regard; second runners up were Katana and Anna, first runners up, David and Brittany and winners, Noelita Trench and Sherwin Aaron. The winning schools will each receive $3000 in prize money that is expected to go toward upgrading individual home economics facilities.

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