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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Alysha Dean prepares her plantain dish for the judges in last year’s Food Fight.
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Nassau, Bahamas - Last year’s Food Fight winner came back from the underdog position to clinch the culinary competition’s top spot. This year she will look on as a new student chef attempts to follow in her footsteps.
Alysha Dean, now a student of the prestigious culinary academy, Johson and Wales, came back to Sandals Royal Bahamian – where her journey began – this summer. Ms. Dean was eager to get into the pastry shop and put her craft to work.
The Sandals Foundation and Sandals Royal Bahamian sponsored Food Fight is a head-to-head kitchen battle between students from grades eleven and twelve.
This year’s Plantain battle will have the students pit their plantain platters against one another as they vie for a $40,000 scholarship to Johnson and Wales and a summer culinary boot camp fully paid for by the school. Some of the local high schools competing for the right to be called Food Fight champions are St. Annes, C.V. Bethel, Anatol Rodgers, C.I. Gibson and C.C. Sweeting.
The student chefs have been busily preparing their plantains for battle in Island Flare’s fourth annual Food Fight beginning this Friday at Sandals and culminating at The Mall At Marathon. The mall battle, which is open to the public, begins at 11:00am on Saturday at centre court.
Ms. Dean who is in her sophomore year at Johnson and Wales, said her Food Fight experience boosted her self-confidence and taught her a valuable lesson.
“I know that it doesn’t matter if you’re the underdog in the prelims, it matters how you show-out in the end,” she said.
Chef Jamall Petty, president and founder of Island Flare, said this year’s competition is sure to be “hotter” than the previous years.
Sandals Royal Bahamian’s Executive Sous, Chef Seanette Cooper, looks on as the student chefs prepare their dishes for competition.
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“One of the things that stands out this year is not only the rivalry between the school s and the students but between the coaches,” he said. “You have chefs from different backgrounds and culinary experiences who see their work expressed through the students.
“Some of the entries that I have had the opportunity to preview have been absolutely mind blowing. To see the level of creativity and ingenuity that these students possess and are tapping into is extraordinary. Speaking to one student felt as if I was speaking to a seasoned chef and not a high school student.”
The Sandals Foundation donated more than $2,000 toward equipment the students will use to create their culinary masterpieces.
Also on board to assure the Food Fight a smooth success are The Mall at Marathon, Kelly’s, Master Technicians, Coca Cola and Bahamas Local.
Past winners of the Food Fight have gone on to become chefs at the RIU, Paradise Island and Sandals Emerald Bay. A first place winner in Island Flare’s very first plantain challenge is now a chef at one of Walt Disney’s resorts.
Ms. Dean said she hopes to one day run a pastry kitchen in a big hotel and teach students interested in entering the culinary field.
“I also want to write my own desert book and my students can buy it when I’m their teacher,” she said.
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
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