Blue Food Festival honours pioneers to mark silver jubilee

THE TOBAGO Blue Food Festival on Sunday honoured several of its pioneers to mark the event’s silver jubilee.

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine and assistant secretary in the Division of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation Megan Morrison presented awards to Casilda Charles; Ethlyn Chance; Denisha Kerr; Eldica Sharp, Jerry Chance; Reynold Chance and Barrington Nedd.

The presentations took place during the official part of the festival, at the Bloody Bay Recreation Ground.

Tobago Festivals Commission CEO John Arnold gave an overview of the festival.

Arnold told the gathering, which included Chief Justice Ivor Archie and his wife Denise Rodriguez-Archie, the event started in L’Anse Fourmi in 1998. with 150-200 people.

He added in the early years, it used to be held on the field in front of the community centre.

As the festival progressed, it was moved to the recreation ground, and the neighbouring communities of Bloody Bay and Parlatuvier also became a part of the event.

“So right now, the current version is that we have three villages that collaborate and they work very good together to make this event a reality.”

With the help of the Tobago House of Assembly, over the years, the Blue Food Festival is now a signature event on the island’s cultural calendar, he said.

In brief remarks, Augustine promised a permanent structure for the festival will be completed for next year’s event.

“Last year, I told you that we would do some development plans for the site, and I am happy to say that we have started and so by the time you return next year, we will have a fully built-out blue-food facility right here in Bloody Bay that will be available to you round the year, 12 months per year and not just seasonally, which means you will have far more comfortable facilities year-round,” he said.

Augustine, too, acknowledged that the blue food festival, which began as a village activity, has blossomed into a global event, attracting hundreds of locals and tourists alike annually.

He especially welcomed foreign-based Tobagonians who returned to the island for the festival.

More than 30 vendors sold dasheen-based delicacies and other items at the festival.

Yzanne Williams-Chance’s booth, Calypso Girl Experience, was one of the more popular booths. There, patrons could buyfruit cake, kurma, dasheen wine, fudge, sweetbread, sponge cake, pone and ice cream.

Williams-Chance said she has been selling at the festival since 2004 and has won numerous titles, including best-tasting dish, best dessert and best drink.

Asked what is unique about her products, Williams-Chance said, “My items are strictly from dasheen, no additives.”

Her recipes, she said, are contained in her own cookbook, Taste of Tobago Blue Food Recipes, which, to date, has sold over 3,000 copies.

Williams-Chance, who is originally from L’Anse Fourmi but lives in Mt Grace, said she has also been promoting her recipes at Tobago Day celebrations in New York.

Another vendor, Andrea Seaforth, said dasheen anchar and kuchela was her specialty.

She told Newsday, “It was an idea that came by one of my sisters. She said ‘Why not try this?’ and I, in turn, said, ‘How about the preserved dasheen?' We decided we could try both and see what is the result.”

Seaforth said people love it.

“They say it is something different.”

She said she began participating in the festival last year.

“We wanted to do it for a long time, but no one was brave enough to step up. But I was the brave one. So from now hopefully it will grow.”

Apart from the culinary delights, there were other attractions such as a petting zoo and art and craft section.

The entertainment was also one of the highlights of the festival. It featured performances by Nailah Blackman; SuperBlue (Austin Lyons); Preedy (Akeem Chance); Keishorn Jack; Joanne Archer; Gerard Balfour; D’ashe Saul; and Tobago junior calypso monarch N’yah Arnold.