JCDC to Stage Food Festival April 11

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) will be staging a food festival, involving parishes in its North Eastern Region, at the Gray’s Inn Estate in Annotto Bay, St. Mary, on Friday, April 11.
Marlene Pusey-Reid, Regional Manager for the North Eastern Region, told JIS News that the event would be held as part of this year’s Festival of Arts Competition and would involve participants from Portland, St. Mary and St. Ann, including schools, individuals, and community groups, with the winners receiving cash awards, trophies and medals for their performances.
She said the day’s activities would feature a competition among the participants in culinary arts, display booths to be set up by a number of government and non-governmental organizations in St. Mary, and an entertainment package with various cultural groups, and persons in the parish.
Formerly known as the Culinary Arts Competition, the event has been re-organized and expanded in its scope, to include the cultural and entertainment components to make it more appealing to the public.
Mrs. Pusey-Reid said the culinary component would include the preparation of various types of meals by the participants, as well as a celebrity “cook off,” in which persons with celebrity status would have the opportunity to prepare meals of their choice as part of the competition.
She also noted that this component would include a live cooking segment, in which participants would make random selections of pre-determined meals listed in a mystery box and prepare these meals; and a sandwich making competition for children.
Mrs. Pusey-Reid said there would be a food display competition, in which persons would display meals prepared before the day of the festival.
She noted that among the organizations expected to set up display booths at the festival are the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), St. Mary Health Department, and Portland Health Department.