The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) Festival of Foods Showcase in Clarendon on Friday (June 13) proved to be a successful event as hundreds of persons came to enjoy variety of foods, support colleagues and families and enjoy all day entertainment and prize giveaways.

Hundreds of competitors from schools and community groups from Clarendon, Manchester and St. Elizabeth converged on the Village in the May Pen Town Centre, Clarendon from as early as 8:00 a.m. to display their creative culinary talents and compete for top awards and prizes. The event featured the display of a wide variety of categories, including main dishes, desserts as well as napkin folding and table setting competitions.

Teacher of the Denbigh High School, Cardetta Rose-Campbell who has been entering the competition for over five years and copped gold and silver awards noted her appreciation of the Festival of Foods competition which provides an excellent avenue for culinary talents to be discovered and developed. “It is a wonderful opportunity for students. My students from the Denbigh High School have shown how excited they are to compete and I am particularly impressed by their family’s support.”

For years, the JCDC has been unearthing, developing and showcasing the culinary talents of Jamaicans through the Festival of Foods Showcase and other culinary competitions while allowing participants to showcase and sharpen their culinary skills for personal and commercial pursuits.

16 year old Aaliyah Haynes from the Denbigh High School copped a gold medal for her creative Cho-Cho Pie which was prepared for diabetics. This, she said has challenged her to become more creative while recognizing the competition’s encouragement to entrants to use local ingredients in their dishes which is to foster a greater sense of appreciation for local produce and in support of Jamaica’s thrust to eat what we grow.

The day’s event was filled with non-stop entertainment and prizes including food sampling from sponsors which include Grace Foods, Betty Condensed Milk, Maggi Seasoning, P.A. Benjamins and Jamaica Biscuit Company. Other attractions included food displays, mystery basket competitions and an exciting celebrity cook-off competition between Dancehall artiste, Ikaya, 2013 Digicel Rising Star Verlando Small and Miss St. Elizabeth Festival Queen 2013 Evonie Blake, who emerged the winner.

The Festival of Foods Showcase will culminate on Friday, June 20 with the northern regional finals which will be held at the Anglican Church Hall in Port Maria, St. Mary.