The heat will be on in October of this year when many of the nation’s _ leading kitchen maestros take part in the St. Kitts and Nevis Hotel and _ Tourism Association’s Chef of the Year competition. Also at stake will be _ places on the team representing the country at next year’s Caribbean Hotel _ Association’s Taste of the Caribbean competition._ The HTA contest will be held on October 28, 2008 in the Kitchens of the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant School of Hospitality Studies and Culinary Arts. The CHTA showdown will be held in June 2009._ The chefs will have two hours to create their culinary masterpieces at the _ HTA event. And, until it starts at 11 a.m., they won’t know what _ ingredients they’ll be working with. Each chef will be given a “mystery _ basket” consisting mainly of local produce, and each of the baskets will _ be different. The chefs will have an hour to assess the ingredients, _ decide what to do with them and write down their menu and method of _ preparation. They’ll have another hour to do the actual cooking, and will _ be asked to present a meal for four._ Says Michael Head, manager of the HTA: “The goals of this competition are _ to raise the standards of Caribbean food excellence and professionalism, _ to promote camaraderie and education opportunities among chefs and to act _ as a staging area for development of service and presentation.”_ The event will be open to the public, who will be invited to sample the _ chefs’ creations in the College Restaurant, after the judges have delivered _ their verdict._ Head also says that while the competition is open to all chefs working in _ St. Kitts and Nevis, the six-man team at next year’s CHTA Taste of the _ Caribbean finals will include at least three nationals. Adds Head: “We’re _ really encouraging local chefs to take part in the competition. We firmly _ believe we’ve produced some of the finest chefs in the entire Caribbean, _ and we want to prove it on the big stage next year.”
