A decade of decadence: JFDF launches 10th staging with a taste of excellence

Putting the ‘decade’ in ‘decadence’, the Jamaica Food and Drink Festival is honoured to be celebrating ten magnificent stagings of the most sought-after savoury meets sweet culinary events.

Festival Director Alicia Bogues beamed with great pride as she passionately spoke about the brand’s mission and promise to ignite taste buds with enchanting flavour. “I’m proud, excited and overwhelmed with emotions that a small dream, amongst a small team, has evolved into something that has given so many people a platform to showcase the culinary talent and challenge our beverage partners, in order to satisfy food lovers and foster the growing cocktail culture.”

With the launch switching venues from Port Royal to its hub, better known as the Jamaica Food and Drink Kitchen in Barbican, Kingston, specially invited guests received more than a mouthful from three of the island’s top chefs.

Chef Andre Sewell took food lovers to brunch, leaving them wanting more with his tasty rendition of Scotch bonnet poached shrimp with papata and charred pineapple salsa. Then he rolled out the red carpet with the star of the show: the pimento smoked meatballs pomodoro with dark rum roasted garlic spaghetti.

He was also responsible for the display of desserts, bringing passion to the Tortuga coconut cake, transforming it into a piña colada and chocolate truffle. The chef also infused green and ripe St Mary’s Plantain Chips into crispy rice ‘Rice Krispies’, a crowd favourite.

Chef Sewell, who has been working with VISA and the festival for the past three years, says his journey with the team thus far has been fantastic. As for the launch night, “People keep coming back for more, saying they love the shrimp and the meatballs. And when I come over to [the] St Mary’s side, it has been nothing but love,” he told Food.

For the Picante section, Chef Christian Sweeney, who was working with Walker’s Wood Caribbean Foods, dished out a delectable take on the firestick tuna tartare with coco chips made with the brand’s firestick pepper sauce. Additionally, he created the boasy beef patty (marinated with jerk seasoning) with a brûlée Solomon Gundy cream sauce.

“This is supposed to be a preview of Picante, which is the spicy segment of the festival. So we wanted to go big on character with authentic local flavour,” he said, noting how happy he was to see foodies helping themselves to several servings of the tuna tartare in particular.

Then, there was the Pork Palooza segment. Chef Gariel Ferguson, from the Rib Cage Grill, teased and pleased palates with pork belly two ways: crispy fried escovitch pork belly mini sandwiches and brown sugar ‘Busta’ glazed pork belly, playing on the rich notes of ginger, molasses and coconut, with red pepper relish.

“We decided to go with traditional flavours of Jamaican food that are not normally associated with pork,” he revealed. Picking a savoury and sweet category, the escovitch pork belly was a two-day process of slow cooking, salting and cooling, frying twice to achieve the texture and flavour, served with an escovitch sauce.

The sweetness from the classic ‘Busta’ candy can be found in the ‘Busta’ glazed pork belly, elevated in taste by the molasses, coconut and ginger.

Participating in the festival since day one, Chef Ferguson is thrilled to see it through to a decade. “As chefs, we are really happy that somebody has taken the step to make an event of this magnitude happen and sustain it. I’m already looking forward to celebrating this milestone with the upcoming festival.”

For libations, Heineken greeted guests first with the famous original lager, alongside its Heineken Silver (light lager) and Heineken 0.0 (non-alcoholic), as well as the popular Heineken brewed passion cocktail, striking a balance for just about everyone present.

Select Brand popped bottles of Robert Mondavi’s private selection of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on deck, and mixed cocktails like the Absolut passion and Absolut spicy lemonade, using the namesake’s vodka.

Caribbean Producers Jamaica also offered a selection of shots and cocktails for others to sip responsibly. “We wanted to showcase some of our most beloved brands, including Bombay Sapphire, Fireball, Teremana Tequila and Monymusk Rums, blending premium ingredients with the vibrant energy of Jamaica,” brand manager for Spirits at CPJ, Shereika Myers, said.

Worthy Park’s new overproof rum was showcased in a light and refreshing mojito worthy of seconds. Guests also helped themselves to the smooth serving of the brand’s rum cream.

krysta.anderson@gleanerjm.com