Organisers urge patrons to vote ahead of August 31 deadline

While numerous promoters in the entertainment industry were unable to stage annual events during the pandemic, organisers of the Jamaica Food & Drink Festival pivoted and ensured that they kept their footprint in the industry. 

Now they are happily reaping from the risk they took during the uncertainty of the pandemic, as they are finalists in the third annual World Culinary Awards 2022 for the Caribbean’s Best Culinary Festival, going up against the two other Caribbean islands – Cayman and Saint-Barthélemy Island (a Leeward Island) with Cayman Cookout and St Barth Gourmet Festival, respectively.

In 2021, the Jamaican festival won the World’s Best Culinary Festival and the Caribbean’s Best Culinary Festival after going up against countries such as Dubai.

VOTE ONLINE

In an effort to win the coveted award this year, the directors are encouraging festival fans, patrons and other persons globally to go online today (August 31) before midnight on the website of the World Culinary Awards 2022, and vote for the country to set yet another example of Jamaica excelling on the world stage.

Nasma Mohammed-Chin, festival director, Jamaica Food and Drink, said reaching the finals for another consecutive year was not an easy feat for the organisers of the annual event that is held in October.

After the pandemic hit in 2020, and the Government implemented restrictions under the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA), they had to become creative for the Festival’s survival. Their brainstorming resulted in the 2020 Jamaica Food and Drink Festival shifting to a safer ‘Experience in a Box’.

“For Experience in a Box, we curated a food and drink experience which was safely delivered to them. Those boxes featured top local chefs and sponsors,” Mohammed-Chin said.

For 2021, their planning not only resulted in the return of the physical staging of the festival, but also the creation and launch of a new business concept, ‘Jamaica Food & Drink Festival Kitchen’ – a first-rate, multi-purpose cooking studio and event space in Progressive Plaza, 24-28 Barbican Road, Kingston – which was launched in November.

The 2021 staging of Jamaica Food & Drink Festival took place at that location in the form of a 10-day calendar of events with mixology and cooking with a limited number of patrons who sang praises for the events.

REDEFINING GASTRONOMY TOURISM SECTOR IN JAMAICA

Mohammed-Chin believes they are deserving of being among the top three festivals in the Caribbean, because they have consistently delivered highly curated world-class events over the last eight years.

“A big part of what we wanted to do was redefine the gastronomy tourism sector in Jamaica because we have persons that come in for sun, sea and sand. We’re really known for our music, but we really didn’t have a thriving tourism industry that is around food, and of course we know that people are looking around for more experiences,” Mohammed-Chin said.

She said the idea of the festival was first based on the annual South Beach Food & Wine Festival and the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience experienced years ago by the team.   

“We travelled a lot. We did a lot of research as we knew what the template for a successful festival should be, and we started implementing here. We spent the last couple of years creating a world class Festival that is now highly sought after under the Jamaica events calendar, the end of October every year,” she said. 

BARTLETT CONGRATULATES JAMAICA FOOD AND DRINK

With the removal of the DRMA, the success of Jamaica Food and Drink Kitchen has been realised.

Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett congratulated Jamaica Food & Drink Festival for again being shortlisted among the countries across the globe for the World Culinary Awards for 2022.

“I am very pleased to learn that the Jamaica Food and Drink Festival has again been nominated for the coveted Caribbean’s Best Culinary Festival award by the World Culinary Awards 2022. This is a clear indication that our culinary offerings are being enjoyed and appreciated across the globe and underscores the true value of gastronomy tourism to our destination,” Bartlett said.

He said that, as Jamaica commemorates its 60th year of independence, the island also celebrates its food and culture, and the nomination is quite timely in this regard.

“We celebrate our island’s ‘melting pot of flavours’ from various cultural backgrounds, which makes the unique gastronomy experience that Jamaica provides distinguishable across borders and traditions. I commend the organisers of the Jamaica Food and Drink Festival on their latest nomination, and for their continued commitment to building Brand Jamaica,” he said.

Jamaica Food and Drink Festival organisers want Jamaica to cop the World Culinary Awards 2022 for the Caribbean’s Best Culinary Festival again. They are also encouraging all persons to vote on August 31 by clicking here.