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Award-winning chefs
WELCOME BAHAMAS - NASSAU, CABLE BEACH & PARADISE ISLAND - 2005
Award-winning chefs
Team Bahamas scores Olympic bronze
With visitors from all over the globe arriving in The Bahamas daily, creating dishes to appeal to all nationalities is key in the restaurant business. However, Bahamian fare prepared with indigenous ingredients is still an important aspect of the country's culinary offerings. Bahamian chefs excel in this area.
The Bahamas National Culinary Team served up dishes of national pride for a bronze medal finish during the Culinary Olympics held in Erfurt, Germany, in October 2004.
Olympic debut
"It was a big accomplishment for us to be among the world?s best," says team member Jasmine Young, executive sous chef at Atlantis.
Other members who attended the Culinary Olympics were team captain Basil Dean Jr, executive sous chef at One&Only Ocean Club resort; team co-captain Tracey Sweeting; Jason McBride, sous chefs at the Radisson Cable Beach; Wayne Moncur, executive sous chef at Atlantis; Emanuel Gibson, chief instructor at The College of The Bahamas; and alternate Alpheus Ramsey, head chef at Atlantis.
Following months of intense preparation, the seven-member team made history as the first from the Caribbean region to compete at the world-renowned event.
"To see what's new in cuisine, new techniques of cooking, new trends and a chance to work with top international chefs - it was a mind-boggling experience," says Moncur, adding that approximately 1,200 chefs competed. "Once we got in the arena, we thought about nothing else but to represent our country."
The first Culinary Olympics, or IKA (Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung), was held in early 1900. Today, it is regarded as the oldest and most prestigious culinary event in the world.
Award-winning menu
Chefs are judged on presentation, composition, professional preparation and arrangement of a three-course meal - appetizer, main course and pastry or dessert.
Over the course of three days, chefs prepare their meals in glass encased kitchens, within specified time limits. Teams were not only closely monitored by judges but were also under the watchful eye of international media and thousands of spectators.
"It was a very intense situation," says Moncur.
Despite the pressure, Team Bahamas prepared a menu worthy of two bronze medals in the appetizer and pastry categories.
The appetizer, under the theme "Seafood Trilogy," consisted of winter melon, avocado and crawfish salad, accompanied by citrus and mint marinated fresh greens; tropical grilled shrimps with Bacardi Limon essence; and creamy Nassau conch and grits with spicy pan-seared island snapper, stewed tomatoes and lobster foam.
For the main course, the team prepared a "Pork Feast" of jerked pork loin with bacon crust, accompanied with a ragout of ginger; mango and pork; spiced pork sausage; warm cabbage slaw with market fresh vegetables; sweet potato waffle; cinnamon glazed beets; and pan gravy.
The dessert, entitled "A Sweet Taste of The Bahamas," featured white and dark chocolate souffle with sapodilla cream filling, laced with banana rum and accompanied by pina colada ice cream and thyme-infused pineapple tart. The dessert was also served with a pineapple chip, vanilla crisp and tropical fruit sauces.
Young says that the team knew about winning one bronze medal the day before the final results were announced, but the second medal came as a surprise.
"When they announced everything (at the competition) it was first in German, then in French," she says. "It was when they announced it in English, we knew we won (the bronze)."
Moncur notes that the menu also proved to be a hit with the general public. "We were the first team (during the competition) to sell out for our menu," he says. In addition to preparing their main menu presentation for the judges, teams also had to prepare 110 portions of their menus for the Culinary Olympics Restaurant of Nations.
What's next
With the thrill of Olympic competition behind them, Team Bahamas is back at work in Nassau, putting their new-found knowledge into the dishes they create.
"We are fusing what we saw (at the Olympics) with our Bahamian cuisine," says Moncur.
Fellow Bahamian chefs have also acknowledged the team's success, says Young. "The other chefs were so proud. Even before we went, all the cooks said, "you have to do (well)" because we were so involved with preparing for the competition."
The next Culinary Olympics takes place in 2008, so the award-winning team is eager to compete in other international events, such as the Culinary World Cup, which will be held in England in 2005.
Closer to home, Young was awarded Chef of the Year during the Cacique Awards (Bahamian awards for excellence in tourism) held in Grand Bahama in January 2005.
Team Bahamas plans to pass on their knowledge to up-and-coming chefs, so that they too may represent The Bahamas in international competition.
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