The Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association and CuisinArt Resort and Spa hosted a thank you party on July 21 in celebration of the success of the National Culinary Team at the recently-held Taste of the Caribbean Competition in Miami. The team achieved overall silver medals and very high individual scores.

The National Culinary Team and Junior Team

It was an evening of much entertainment on the hotel’s Croquet Lawn which gave the large number of persons in attendance an opportunity to sample some of the team’s delicious flavours including Anguilla’s signature dish.

Tourism Personnel at celebration

CuisinArt’s General Manager, Stephane Zaharia, told the large gathering that on the island he had been told by many people that Anguilla was the culinary capital of the Caribbean with over 100 restaurants. “I am totally overwhelmed with the number of culinary choices in this island of only 13,000 people..,” he said. “This is the first time since 1997 that our national culinary team made it to the finals and they have all made us proud.” He commended them for their efforts and enthusiasm, but singled out Catherine Niles, CuisinArt’s Bar Tender who competed for the first time and gained the award for best beverage with the used of Angostura bitters.

Stephane Zaharia

Mr. Zaharia called for a greater support for the team and for the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association for next year’s culinary competition.

Trudy Nixon, Executive Director of the AHTA, commented: “Our National Team - Guy Gumbs, Darren Connor, Glendon Carty, Dean Samuels, Catherine Niles and Denise Carr – have made us proud and we want to show our pride in them.” She acknowledged the generous support of the Anguilla Government and various properties for the national team’s entry into the culinary competition as well as for the Association’s marketing programme. She also acknowledged the assistance from the Department of Youth and Culture which made it possible for a junior team to be taken to the competition.

Ms Nixon gave an outline of the work of the national culinary team and highly commended them on their success.

There was much applause for the team from those attending the celebration party.

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