Bahamas cuisine wows the crowd in DC
Accomplished Bahamian chefs continue to earn plaudits from food lovers around the world.
The latest one, as this Dining Guide was going to press, is Chef Michael Adderley, executive sous-chef at Atlantis, winner of the coveted Chef of the Year Cacique Award in 2010.
In an event called the Embassy Chef Challenge in Washington, DC, Chef Michael was chosen to represent The Bahamas. He invented a scrumptious crawfish (spiny lobster) salad served in a deep-fried plantain cup garnished with fresh micro greens.
“I wanted to make something original and different,” says Chef Michael. He noted that many of the diners had never experienced the taste and texture of lobster from Bahamian waters.
Although he did not win this time out–the judges chose chef Lars Beese of Denmark for that honour–Chef Michael’s entry was a huge popular hit with the gala crowd at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in DC.
“I made almost 500 meals and only around 10 were left at the end of the night. It was amazing,” he said.
Aside from the enjoyment of taking part in friendly competition with his peers, Chef Michael sees events like the Embassy Challenge as an opportunity to showcase Bahamian cuisine to the world and, at the same time, encourage other Bahamian chefs to become creative with local foods and traditional tastes.
“My challenge is to get Bahamian food to a level where people feel it is not just boil’ fish and grouper fingers,” he says.
“If tourists go to Italy, they have Italian food, if they go to France they have French food. Why can’t we have Bahamian food at the forefront here?”
Adderley always knew he was destined to become a chef. “When I was seven or eight, my grandmother asked me what I wanted to be, and I told her ‘a pilot or a chef.’”
Cooking ran in the family. His grandmother owned a restaurant, and both his mother and father prepared family meals. “My father was excellent at the basics like chicken souse, and my mother was a great cook. Every New Year’s Eve she cooked fried fish, turkey, ham, benny cake, coconut cake and green peas ’n rice.”
Although he’s now more accustomed to creating gourmet dishes, Chef Michael still enjoys his culinary roots. “Even now, I don’t feel like it’s New Year’s unless I have my green peas ’n rice,” he says.
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Feature_BahamasCuisine_DGJul11
Bahamas cuisine wows the crowd in DC
Accomplished Bahamian chefs continue to earn plaudits from food lovers around the world.
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