Culture Village features food, entertainment
It took a while for the fire hearth to get going, but today visitors to the Culture Village at the Bliss Institute got a chance to sample a variety of Belizean culinary treats. While there was a small fee for each dish, the entertainment was free. News Five was there for the opening day.
The fair is not the first to be hosted by the Bliss Institute in association with the National September Celebrations, but it is the first time that the event is being held on such a large scale.
Besides the music and dancing, there are displays of cultural arts and crafts and the preparation of some of our well-known ethnic dishes.
It was interesting watching the groups prepare the fire hearths to cook their special of the day. Pricilla Ah from San Antonio, Toledo
was busy cooking Caldo, a popular Mayan soup.
Pricilla Ah
“It’s nice. The flavor is nice because it is not like the stove.”
Q: “And what do you eat this soup with?”
Pricilla Ah
“Eat it with tortilla because the Caldo is nice with tortilla.”
Myrna Manzanares, President, National Kriol Council
“This morning they had johnny cakes and that’s all finish and then they had Creole bun and the Creole bun is made with the cashew raisins and the cashew raisins were made from the cashew. So we have the Creole bun with the cashew raisins and of course cheese.”
Of course rice and beans with chicken and salad was also on the menu. Another attraction was the making of cassava bread. Because it takes two days to prepare, visitors to the fair will be able to enjoy this Garifuna food on Thursday.
Roy Cayetano, P.S., Ministry of Culture
“These things used to happen a lot in our towns but not any more because with the creeping urbanization that we see all over our country and some of our villages are becoming more urban than rural. It is unfortunate that we have to rely on events like this to give us an opportunity to share these kinds of experiences, to see these processes in operation.”
If you didn’t make it to the Culture Village today, don’t worry, the feast continues on Thursday from six in the morning until six in the evening at the Bliss Institute.
