Top Chefs compete in Taste of Belize

We’re not sure if it’s the thrill of competition, the sumptuous food or the exotic drink, but the annual party known as Taste of Belize always seems to be a sell-out. News Five’s Alyssa Noble was among the thousand or so guests at the Biltmore Saturday night and managed to recover in time to file the following report.

Alyssa Noble, Reporting
With a cornucopia of creative concoctions, it was a feast for the senses at this year?s fifth annual Taste of Belize competition.

This year?s event attracted a multitude of Belize?s best chefs and bakers. And a much larger number of Belizeans turned out to savour the flavour.

Ruth Romero, Attendee
?Well this is my first time to one of the Taste of Belize shows and I?m here with my daughter and my sister, and so far we have tried food from Pirates and from Sun Spree and they are excellent.?

Delhart Courtenay, Attendee
?The food is excellent. I don?t know what the meat it is, but it?s delicious. I like the setting as well too. The setting is very beautiful.?

Amanda Young, Attendee
?Well it is my first time. I tried coming last year because I heard that it was really good so I said I would do all I can to come this year and really I didn?t know that it was this big. You know all outside, around the garden, everything, and it?s really been a nice experience so far.?

Creating that experience was the Belize Tourism Board. According to Keesha Young, B.T.B.?s Product Development Officer, coordinating the event was no easy task.

Keesha Young, Product Development Officer, B.T.B.
?Well this event has been in the planning for a couple months now, almost three to be exact. And right now I am very, very, tired, but very happy to see that so many people decided to support the B.T.B. and in so doing support the food and beverage industry because that is what the Taste of Belize is all about, giving them an opportunity to showcase their talents. This year we had a total of fifteen professional chefs competing through out the day. We also had a total of seven amateurs; we had seven cake decorators and eight bartenders.?

One of those chefs is past champion Amy Knox, who won the professional culinary competition not once, but twice. This year Amy tried a new category, taking first place in the Cake Baking and Decorating Segment, rising above Carmen Vazquez of Journey?s End who placed second and Priscilla Castillo of–and I am not making this up–Belize Corrugated Pipe Co. who took third prize.

Amy Knox, Wild Mango?s Restaurant, First Place Winner, Cake Competition
?I?m amazed. I thought there was some stiff competition and I?m not a baker and it was a lot of fun, but I?m just amazed, always thrills me.?

While Knox isn?t sure if she?ll compete next year, she says she?ll definitely be involved.

Amy Knox
?I don?t know if I?ll necessarily enter or whatever, but I definitely will support whatever, if it be a judge or something. I will definitely go wherever they need me or if I can enter. I want to keep the Taste of Belize going, it?s a great competition.?

Patrick Houghton, Chef at Cayo Espanto as well as a Taste of Belize veteran, won this year?s top prize in the coveted Professional Culinary category. Chris Aycock of Blue Water Grill seized second place while Jason D?Ocampo placed third.

Patrick Houghton, Cayo Espanto, First Place Winner, Professional Culinary Competition
?I was here last year, you know, didn?t have all the luck that I had this year and will be back again next year and hope we got a little luck next year too. The winning dish that I did was Darasa, which is actually a plantain tamale, I did that wrapped in a plantain itself, the plantain skin. We did a little bit of mojito prawns with a little mango, chile sauce and we went ahead and sautéed vegetables inside the Darasa itself.?

As for next year, Young says that arrangements are already under way to serve up an even jucier event in 2007.

Keesha Young
?Well plans and preparations will begin as soon as we go back to work on Monday. We plan to do an evaluation of this year?s event to make it bigger and better next year.?

Alyssa Noble reporting for News 5.

In the Bartending Competition, Mariano Coc of The Placencia resort, took first place for the third year in a row. Enrique Luna placed second, and Trevor Del Valle came in third.

Metylene Bailey of Palotti High School won top prize in the Amateur Culinary competition and second prize went to Henry Jex of Belize Bank. Stephanie Crawford from the Radisson Fort George finished third.