Team Bahamas is ready to defend its Taste of the Caribbean title. Pictured from left is junior cheff three Marvonne Thurston, bartender Marv Cunningham; Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association executive vice president Suzanne Pattusch; team manager Ron Johnson, seafood competition candidate Richmond Fowler II; junior chef two Savannah Adderley; team junior chef Leonardis Moss; entree chef Sheldon Sweeting, appetizer chef Charon Mckenzie; and pastry chef Shelby Coleby.
Team Bahamas believes in itself. They believe in what they’re doing. They believe in their concept, and are confident with less than a month to mounting their Taste of the Caribbean title defense.
“The food will speak for itself,” says chef Sheldon Tracey Sweeting. “It has nothing to do with anything else. Now whatever happens — happens, but if we execute what we plan, trust me… that’s all it is.”
Sweeting says Team Bahamas is not “dissing” any other team, but is in fact simply focusing on themselves.
“When we put our food down, our food is going to speak for itself. And I’m not speaking with arrogance. We just believe in what we’re doing. We believe in our concept and we’re just confident.”
Sweeting said Team Bahamas is simply ready to throw down. Taste of the Caribbean takes place June 6-10 at the Hyatt Regency, Miami.
On Team Bahamas with Sweeting are chefs Charon McKenzie (beef competition candidate); Jamal Small (cheesecake candidate); Richmond Fowler II (seafood competition candidate); Marv Cunningham (bartender); Shelby Coleby (pastry chef); Leonardis Moss (junior chef); Savannah Adderley (junior chef 2); and Marvonne Thurston (junior chef 3).
“All we want to do right now is go and compete, and get this whole thing over with. We knew coming into this particular competition we had to beat the team that won last year — it just so happens that we have to beat ourselves. We know what we did last year to win, so we just try to improve on what we did last year, and add more detail and creativity to the menu. Team Bahamas can only beat ourselves.”
Sweeting said Team Bahamas’ dishes this year are going to be totally different.
“We put more work, more creativity, and more detail into what we’re doing. We challenge ourselves, and that’s what makes us better. And the fact that we are like a family… we just gel so well together, and everyone is on the same level playing field.”
If the successful staging of the team’s demonstration fundraising dinner is anything to go by, Team Bahamas is indeed going to be a force to be reckoned with as it goes into culinary battle to defend its title.
During the demonstration dinner the team presented hors d’oeuvres that included vegetable cheesecake, aerated bell pepper curd; conch cake, spicy herb calypso dressing; and lobster and spinach ragout in plantain cup, rum caviar.
The breads selection included mushroom doughnut with truffle spray, coconut overload braids and sesame lavash; their bread sides included onion marmalade, pesto butter and curry honey butter.
The six-course meal showcased a creamy pumpkin and leek soup, stuffed chicken dumpling, sausage, chicken cracker, pumpkin seed oil; a pressed marinated tomato with smoked and grilled shrimp variation, crispy crab lollipop, tropical salsa, tomato chutney, cilantro-jalapeno aioli, avocado appetizer; a goat cheese panna cotta, thyme sable, spicy watermelon jam, compressed watermelon, goat cheese fondant, baby pea shoots, olive oil snow cheese course; Sands and ruby red grapefruit sorbet, gin-infused honeydew melon sorbet; textures of veal, tenderloin, tortellini and croquette with potato press, stuffed zucchini, parsnip puree, glazed carrot, tomato confit and tamarind-rosemary jus entrée; and a Bahibe ginger mousse with chocolate cremeux, bruleed lemon pudding, lemon sponge, spice tuile, mocha ice cream, lemon raspberry gel, lemon dust and mango-passion coulis dessert.
Bartender Marv Cunningham showcased a pineapple rosemary switcha non-alcoholic libation as well as a classic mango Gun Cay daiquiri.
Sweeting who has earned four Pastry Hall of Fame distinctions at Taste of the Caribbean (2015, 2014, 2013 and 2006) and been recognized for best use of chocolate at the competition has proven to be a force to be reckoned with.
He has moved out of the pastry category that he has dominated in recent years, and will compete in his specialty for the first time — savory. This will be his first year cooking at Taste.
“What they don’t understand is that I’m not a pastry chef. I was never trained to do pastry. I was trained to do savory, so they’re in for a rude awakening,” he said.
He has been working with Shelby Coleby who participated on the squad last year to take over pastry duties — and Sweeting is putting everyone on notice that they need to watch out for her.
“Shelby is off the chain for someone who has never competed at this level,” he said.
“She was a junior chef last year, and we were looking for a pastry chef and had somebody in mind, but the person said they could not do it for whatever reason, and the first person that came to mind was Shelby because she’s enthused about learning, and is eager. She goes and studies, researches, and does things on her own. She takes the initiative. Someone like that is easy to train, and she has a passion for it.”
Sweeting said what Shelby could do, that they will think he never left.
“You can barely see the difference between me being there and Shelby doing the dessert,” he said.
Described as the observant introvert among the culinary collective, the Shelby said her training with Sweeting has paid off and that she is feeling more confident than when she first started, especially after having learned a number of little tricks from him.
And with him constantly giving her reminders that “he has her back,” she has helped her become more comfortable.
“He stays by my side as well ensuring that everything is okay with me, and that I understand everything, so that made me feel a lot better from when I first started to now.”
As a junior chef on last year’s team she was basically in charge of helping with team management wherever they needed assistance. This year she will actually compete.
“It’s a lot of work to be honest, but at the end of the day it’s worth it, because it teaches you discipline, teaches you how to go beyond your limits and how to become a better chef, because you have to constantly sacrifice time and effort to ensure that your dishes are correct, and make sure that you get everything perfect.”
Team manager chef Ron Johnson said after their demonstration dinner that the squad’s confidence as at an all-time high, yet cautious as they are respectful of their competitors.
“I always tell the guys the best team does not win — the most prepared team does, so that means that we have to trouble shoot, we have to think of substitutions.”
During their training he has been throwing curveballs at them to ensure that they are mentally and emotionally prepared.
“We can practice day in and day out with a level of comfort, but going there in a brand new environment with foreign things, you might have certain restrictions. That is what separates a victor from the one who is going to sulk at the end of the day. My goal was to shore up most, if not all of the individual competitions, yet strengthen and improve upon what we did as a team.
“Seeing as there are new entrants coming this year, and some old favorites coming back, but we can’t be too concerned about what they’re doing, we have to be concerned about the team that won last year, and how we’re going to beat them. It just so happens that we have to beat ourselves in a good way, so we’ve been analyzing what was done right, what the judges liked. It was a slow, yet steady goal. Seeing that the score was so high, your mind frame is like how do you exceed it, so that was a difficult task.”
The Bahamas mounts its title defense as Trinidad and Tobago return to the competition after a two-year hiatus and look to expand on their five previous Team of the Year wins, the most by any country.
Puerto Rico holds the record with the highest number of Chef of the Year titles with four, and will strive to repeat their 2015 victory in the category.
St. Lucia will defend their 2015 Caribbean Junior Chef of the Year title.
St. Maarten returns to the competition after a six-year hiatus.
Anguills is participating and is training to go for the gold following a 2015 silver medal win.
Barbados is prepping to try and recapture the Team of the Year honor, a title they were awarded in 2013.
Bonaire is aiming to be a gold medal contender to duplicate their 2015 showing.
Curacao rejoins the competition after its 2015 performance.
Suriname has entered the competition and is working towards besting their silver medal in 2015.
U.S Virgin Islands is striving towards a gold medal performance after taking home a silver medal in 2015.
NATIONAL CULINARY TEAM DEMONSTRATION DINNER MENU
Hors d’oeuvres
Vegetable cheesecake, aerated bell pepper curd
Conch cake, spicy herb calypso dressing
Lobster and spinach ragout in plantain cup, rum caviar
Breads
Mushroom doughnut with truffle spray
Coconut overload braids
Sesame lavash
Sides for bread
Onion marmalade
Pesto butter
Curry honey butter
Soup
Creamy pumpkin and leek soup, stuffed chicken dumpling, sausage, chicken cracker, pumpkin seed oil
Appetizer
Pressed marinated tomato with smoked and grilled shrimp variation, crispy crab lollipop, tropical salsa, tomato chutney, cilantro-jalapeno aioli, avocado
Cheese
A goat cheese panna cotta, thyme sable, spicy watermelon jam, compressed watermelon, goat cheese fondant, baby pea shoots, olive oil snow
Sorbet
Sands and ruby red grapefruit sorbet, gin-infused honeydew melon sorbe
Entree
Textures of veal, tenderloin, tortellini and croquette with potato press, stuffed zucchini, parsnip puree, glazed carrot, tomato confit and tamarind-rosemary jus entrée
Dessert
Bahibe ginger mousse with chocolate cremeux, bruleed lemon pudding, lemon sponge, spice tuile, mocha ice cream, lemon raspberry gel, lemon dust and mango-passion coulis
Drinks
Pineapple rosemary switcha (non-alcoholic)
Classic mango Gun Cay daiquiri
Shavaughn Moss, Guardian Lifestyles Editor
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