Me and my Tameron another Peace Corps volunteer from Choiseul volunteered at the food and rum festival, this would be the second year in a row for me.
Last year it was Nick, and Ryan and myself that attended having the privilege of sampling all the best rums in the Caribbean and the delicious chocolates at the source; the Caribbean where the purest cocoa comes from before it is made in Europe and the US. This year it was just me and Tameron, we volunteered as survey takers. We sampled the rum and food through the day talking to visitors and having a amazing time.
Here are some pictures of the booths and displays.
Chocolate and Rum Pairing
Great Videos of two of the Steel Pan Bands at the Festival
The Food and Rum festival originated as an idea from Chef Orlando from Ladera Resort who shared it with the now Minister of Tourism Allen Chastanet. Allen worked with the Saint Lucia Tourism Board and MACO a Caribbean fashion magazine that focuses on promoting the housing, culture, clothing and food of the Caribbean. Together they launched the first Food and Rum festival. The focuses is to showcase the Caribbeans Rum of course with Caribbean cuisine. Caribbean does have something to offer to the worlds foods and is maturing as a serious cuisine. Yes, Caribbean food is characterized as overcooked and over seasoned, that goes back to the early cooking learned during slavery when not cooking something through could kill you. A renaissance is now happening where foods are being cooked to al dente instead of dry and spices and fresh ingredients that are available in abundance in the islands are being used to flavor dishes properly.
The other main focuses of the festival is the Chocolate and Rum pairing which was for me the highlight of the Food and Rum festival in Saint Lucia. An owner of a chocolate plantation from Trinidad provided a Rum and Chocolate Pairing demonstration. His knowledge and presentation is very impressive, the Chocolates were amazing, some costing a 100 Euros a bar. Pairing them with different rums, some like the award winning El Dorado 15 year rum that has an amazing smoky complex flavor that compliments the chocolate perfectly.
Here are are series of short clips from the chocolate and rum pairing.
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