Caribbean chefs in TV battle

Trinidad and Tobago chef Rishi Ramoutar would cook for friends and family while they "drank rum and limed.” He became the chef whenever they hung out, as his family owned a roti shop.

It was not until he met his wife, however, that he attended culinary school and decided to become a chef .

Ramoutar was one of 16 participants in the newly launched Maggi Food Court Caribbean, a TV series that premiered on TV 6 on August 28. The popular Jamaican series – which began in August 2021 – has now expanded its reach and features regional chefs.

Stakeholders, family and friends of the chefs and Nestle were treated to a special viewing, followed by a showing of The Beast featuring UK actor Idris Elba, at MovieTowne, Port of Spain on August 27.

The show will run every week for eight weeks.

In the premiere episodes, Ramoutar faced off against Jamaican chef Johnoi Reid in the first round, while chef Jamaican chef Alecia Lee competed with St Lucian chef Yannis Alexander.

The competition has an elimination format which sees the winners of each round battling each other until there is only one left. Ramoutar was the eventual winner, much to the delight of those gathered.

The judges included TT-born chef Natasha De Bourg and Nestle’s business executive officer Ockino Petrie.

In the first episode, the chefs were seen introducing themselves and someone walking in and presenting them with packages letting them know they’d be participating in the competition.

The "Caribbeanness" was easy to see and hear, with many of the chefs showing their surprise, anxiety and bravado in the many unique phrases and expressions native to each Caribbean island. Ramoutar’s use of "rum" and "liming" drew laughter from the crowd, as did the Jamaican Lee telling the St Lucian Alexander that he was “chatting a lot.”'

The event’s guests were treated to drinks using Nestle’s line of juices, Kit Kat chocolates and food using Nestle’s brand of seasonings.

The series’ purpose is to showcase the talent of regional chefs, Petrie said.

“A lot of people, when they consume, they really don’t know who is behind the scenes.

“Maggi has always been in the kitchen, enhancing our top flavours, so we thought, what can we do to recognise chefs? The idea started at our agency (advertising).

“Then we expanded it into a TV show where we would introduce chefs based in the Caribbean to show their skills on a cooking show and the winner gets US$10,000.”

The competition drew participants from Jamaica, TT, Barbados, Guyana, St Lucia and Bahamas. Its format mimics those of similar programmes on international networks.

But for Petrie, the show is not necessarily about Caribbean food but showing the skills of the region’s chefs.

He said they had the liberty of cooking whatever they wanted as long as they used the techniques given to them such as grilling and baking.

It chefs are challenged by surprise elements in the competition. For example, in the first episodes a major ingredient was taken away from each chef, who then had to continue preparing the meal without it.

The brand has plans to continue to the series next year and for many years to come.

“As long as it is still relevant and as long as we are able to continue producing it,” Petrie said.

There might also be a youth component in future editions.

“What we found, because it is a competition, you will always find that the more experienced chefs will always, sometimes, do a little bit better because he is used to more experience working under pressure. But it is something that we will look for in the future.”

The show was filmed over two weeks in June.

“We flew all the contestants into Jamaica and we did the entire series there,” he said.

The brand is committed to showing what it's like for the people behind the flames of the region’s stoves, whether they're cooking chicken curry or curry chicken.

“We do hope next year we will get a lot more interest. The interest from TT this year was very good and very competitive. We are looking forward to next year, where the prize might be more than US$10,000 and where we will get even greater entrants and more participation.”

While Petrie did not wish to reveal if there’d be links with similar shows overseas, he said the brand was exploring whether the winner of its Food Court can be sent to one of those competitions, with Nestle/Maggi paying for the expenses.