New York, NY – June 27, 2008 - Jamaican chef and New York restaurateur Nigel Spence will appear in the award winning in-flight program Island Stylee on Air Jamaica, Jamaica’s national airline. The episode will begin airing mid July 2008. Hosted by former Miss Jamaica and BET host Rachel Stuart, the feature focuses on accomplished Jamaican nationals in New York, their lives, accomplishments and how they stay connected to their Caribbean roots.
Jamaica’s Director of Tourism Basil Smith said “We are excited to see Chef Spence represent Jamaica and showcase our interesting and delicious culinary traditions in the program. He is an extremely talented and personable individual and will surely entertain the thousands of passengers who will be watching the program.”
Nigel Spence, an alumnus of the exclusive Culinary Institute of America, opened Ripe Kitchen and Bar in 2003. Since then, the restaurant has received numerous accolades from esteemed media outlets including the New York Times, The Journal News, Westchester Magazine, the Jamaican Magazine and Jamaican Eats.
In less than a year he has had multiple appearances on TV Food Network where he competed against celebrity Chef Bobby Flay in a Jerk Ribeye grill off which he (Spence) won. As one of the most popular chefs to appear on that series – Throwdown with Bobby Flay -Spence was brought back to the Food Network last month in a special titled Rematch on the Grill where he again competed against Flay and was the only chef who earned a second win.
Chef Spence has also appeared on Tony’s Table on CBS Morning News (Channel 2) and Neighborhood Eats on New York ‘s ABC News (Channel 7).
From a field of over 1,100 entries from 23 countries, Island Stylee, a Frame by Frame Production, won the top honor in its class – the Certificate of Excellence – for the seventh time at the US International Film and Video Festival held in Los Angeles , California last year. This episode of Island Stylee will run for three months and will be aired on all Air Jamaica flights to the United States and Toronto , Canada to an expected audience of 375,000 passengers.
