Youth Chefs Win World Health Day Cook-Off Competition

Competitors were grouped into three teams of two and tasked with the preparation of a healthy meal from a mystery basket of ingredients, in one hour and twenty minutes.  Teams were judged based on taste, use of ingredients, healthiness, cuisine style, teamwork, and presentation. The experienced judging panel comprised of Chief Judge and Event Coordinator, Chef Adrian Cumberbatch and Liane Griffith (both from Cook Caribbean Incorporated), joined by owner and creator of PEG farm, Mr. Paul Bourne.

At the end of the cook-off, the Farmhouse Crew team, junior chefs at PEG Farm, Zakiya Barrow and Kye Yearwood, emerged victorious. They described the cook-off as a good opportunity to advocate for the cooking of locally grown food.  Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Barbados, Dr Sonia Browne, further echoed their sentiment.

“We are trying to move away from a reliance on the international community for food sources and trying to lower the importation of food.  I peeked into the mystery basket, and I noticed a lot of local products.  This is what we want to promote – to educate people to understand that it does not have to be expensive and it is not necessarily better to import.  It has been proven in many instances that local food is healthier and of greater nutritional value than those that we import,” Minister Brown stated.  

Dr Brown was paired with President of the Queen’s College Interact Club, Alexia Daniel for the cookoff. Other participating teams included the Executive Director of the Ashley Lashley Foundation and UNICEF Youth Advocate, Ashley Lashley, who was paired with PAHO’s Subregional Program Director for the Caribbean, Dean Chambliss.

The contestants, onlookers and hosts thoroughly enjoyed the activity and agreed that it was a novel way to draw attention to several of the issues that affect our ability to achieve health for all.

“I think that this is a major lesson, particularly here in the Caribbean, which depends so much on imported food stuff and often unhealthy food.  The ability to showcase healthy local foods is an excellent opportunity,” Mr. Chambliss said. He further emphasized that the use of local products showed that the Caribbean can grow, distribute and prepare delicious local meals.

Owner and creator of PEG, Paul Bourne is an advocate for healthy food and served as one of the judges.  He welcomed the use of the farm-to-table, Farm House Café for the cookoff. 

“I enjoyed it very much! It is the first time I ever participated in anything like this and of course supporting healthy themes is what PEG is all about.  So, it was great to be an advocate for the awareness of people about the difference between healthy food and highly processed, crappy food,” he asserted.  “The healthier the food is, the healthier the people will be.  The healthier the farming practices are, the healthier the land will be - which means that it will produce healthier foods.  It’s a real no-brainer issue,” Mr Bourne concluded.

On World Health Day, the World Health Organization will observe its 75th anniversary. WHO’s 75th anniversary year is an opportunity to reflect on public health successes that improved people’s quality of life during the past seven decades. It is also an opportunity to motivate action to tackle the health challenges of today and tomorrow.