Taste of Tobago whets appetite for upcoming festivals

TRINIDADIANS got a savoury Taste of Tobago on Friday at a micro-market organised by the Division of Tourism and Culture at Queen's Hall, Port of Spain.

Apart from being the curtain raiser to the critically-acclaimed Bitter Cassava play, the micro-market offered spectators a taste of Tobago Heritage Festival, scheduled for July 22- August 1, Blue Food Festival, in October, and Tobago Carnival, from October 28-30.

There was also a mini-display of the popular Ole Time Wedding, a staple for Tobago Heritage Festival from the Moriah Village Council. There were also several booths displaying craft items, dasheen products, cassava products. and other confectioneries. And to tease the tastebuds, there were free samples of crab and dumpling, cassava pone, cassava balls, and a delightful cocktail of coconut rum and cassava.

Tobago Festivals Ltd CEO John Arnold said the micro-market was the brainchild of Secretary of Tourism Tashia Burris, It brought the Tobago Performing Arts Company (TPAC), Tobago Hotel and Tourism Institute (THTI), Tobago Festivals, Tobago Tourism Agency Ltd (TTAL) and Shaw Park Complex under one umbrella.

He said the aim was to "piggyback" on the popularity of the Bitter Cassava play. He anticipated Trinis would enjoy it as much as their Tobago counterparts.

"I think a good play is a good play," he said. "A good production is a good production. Same way people responded in Tobago, I think the reports about the acting, the music, the dancing, the lighting, the set, the cues and so on, that will speak volumes here."

He said Tobago has a number of unique products on the market, which he hoped Trinis would love.

"We are promoting the Blue Food Festival also. We have some blue food wine samples. The THTI has come up with several products around the cassava – you have the cassava rum cake and the chocolate cookies which are made from the cassava. They have a lot of stuff going on there."

He said the Tobago Agribusiness Development Company Ltd has been doing "a lot of good work" with dasheen products with the aim of exporting.

"That whole idea of diversification is a topic of the current administration."

He said domestic tourism remains on the priority for Tobago.

"Over the years, domestic tourism has been a big thing for Tobago. It has been one of the things that has kept the thing buoyant even when international travel dropped. That will continue. This is happening here."