Team St. Maarten & St. Martin trains for Taste of the Caribbean
A four-member team representing both sides of the island is training ahead of Taste of the Caribbean, which begins in Barbados on Monday 16 November.
Team St. Maarten & St. Martin is holding weekly training sessions ahead of Taste of the Caribbean in Barbados, which begins on Monday 16 November. The four-member team will return to the regional competition for the first time since 2017.
Senior Chef Jewel Daal of TJ's Cassava Coalpot, Junior Chef Jamal Dormoy of Anse Marcel Beach Club, Pastry Chef Djaya Coupey of Ocean 82 and Bartender Erion Peterson of La Samanna make up the team. Renata de Weever is the coach and Paul Peterson is assistant coach.
The team has been training at TJ's Cassava Coalpot. Coupey and Peterson will recreate recipes submitted before the competition, while Daal and Dormoy will work with mystery-basket ingredients revealed at the start of their sessions. Judges will assess taste, presentation, creativity and technical execution for the pastry and bartender categories.
De Weever has prepared practice baskets for Daal and Dormoy, according to the team. A final practice session is planned under simulated competition conditions, with invited judges and guests providing feedback.
The team is scheduled to depart for Barbados on Saturday 14 November. Members of the public are invited to Princess Juliana International Airport at 6:45am AST that day before the departure.
The preparations are supported by the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau, the Office de Tourisme de Saint-Martin, Winair and PDG Supplies. PDG Supplies is contributing uniforms, equipment and presentation materials, while Winair is assisting with travel arrangements.
File photo: Remy Gumbs (shady P) / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · cropped, SXM Today mark added
