Monday, May 26th 2008

Thousands headed to the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain, at the weekend for the annual Taste T&T Culinary Festival, which was officially opened by Tourism Minister Joseph Ross.

Now in its fourth edition, the festival continues to grow attracting food lovers not only from the country but from other parts of the globe as well.

Designer Brian MacFarlane again left patrons in awe with his nostalgic Caribbean days of the past. Tents, which featured the various cuisines of the country’s top chefs, were turned into white buildings resembling those of colonial French designs.

Vintage cars and white lanterns only added to the ‘ole time’ atmosphere making one feel as though they were actually in a movie about Cuba.

As many headed straight for the food others were interested in the Demonstration Kitchen which has become a popular aspect of the event. MacFarlane, the masman who has been creating the designs for Taste T&T for the past three years, dubbed the event as fabulous.

“I think it can only grow,” he said.

“It features our culture and food and shows the coming together as a people. I think in some ways it is even better than international culinary shows.”

President George Maxwell Richards and his wife Dr Jean Ramjohn Richards, Ministers Lenny Saith, Neil Parsanlal, Gary Hunt, former Tourism Minister Howard Chin Lee and star batsman Brian Lara were some of the notable faces present. The two-day event ended last night.