A Hero's Welcome for Saint Lucia Junior Culinary Team 2018

Two young St. Lucians have won the 2018 Caribbean Junior Duelling Challenge, one of the Caribbean’s biggest and most prestigious culinary competitions.

Karina Abraham and Cheyenne Hippolyte, students of the Soufriere Comprehensive Secondary School represented St. Lucia in the competition and delivered a spectacular performance that ultimately won the hearts of the judges and earned them high praise from the audience and other participants in the event.

Prior to their victory in Barbados, Karina and Cheyenne had been crowned champions in the final leg of the 2018 Chefs in Schools Competition sponsored by the SLHTA’s Tourism Enhancement Fund, which was held June 15 at the Ciceron Secondary School. This qualified them to represent their country at the Caribbean Junior Duelling Challenge which was held August 14 - 19 at the Culinary Arena, Newton Industrial Estate Christ Church, Barbados... READ MORE

Encouraging Youth Empowerment:

An EYE for Success

The SLHTA's Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) is upgrading its approach to the Hospitality Apprenticeship Program for Youth. The new approach features a community base training initiative designed by SLHTA member The Human Development Network titled “Encouraging Youth Empowerment: An EYE for success,” which commenced on 13 th August 2018. 

The Castries North constituency was identified as a pilot community for the program and currently TEF is working with sixteen young persons' ages 17-25 years old, who are aspiring to pursue careers in culinary arts and restaurant service. The two week program entails soft skills training, followed by a two-month apprenticeship program with a hotel or restaurant. The training is being conducted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 pm and is being facilitated by Ms. Donette Ismael and Mr. Noorani Azeez.

The training features soft skills in the following areas:

The Tourism Enhancement Fund remains committed to ensuring the success of our youth vying for opportunities in the tourism industry. Feedback from other private sector partners participating in the Apprenticeship Program have indicated that some of the young person's placed to work in the hospitality sector, despite their enthusiasm, lacked the necessary soft skills to function effectively. This pilot initiative seeks to introduce such a program with the aim of optimizing the possibility of apprentices retaining full time employment.

How Two Young Culinary Talent Won Glory for Saint Lucia

Nashaka Henry, a culinary arts teacher at the Soufriere Comprehensive Secondary School, was part of the delegation that accompanied Karina Abraham and Cheyenne Hippolyte during their stay in Barbados for the Junior Duelling Challenge. Throughout their studies over the past year she has been at their side, motivating and encouraging them, right on up to the final of this year’s Chefs in Schools competition held in June, which Karina and Cheyenne won decisively before moving on to compete in Barbados.

While the two girls’ success has wowed many, Henry says it came as no surprise to her and she’d been quite confident that they would deliver.

“From the outset when I had them in my class for the first time, the first assignment I gave them was to prepare any dish they wished and these two girls stood out. When the time came to select students to represent the school at the local leg of the Chefs in Schools competition, it was an easy decision. We went to Ciceron Secondary [for the final] and they delivered, and continued to deliver in Barbados. You saw the consistency all the way through - from the school, to the local competition, all the way to Barbados,” said Henry.

She said early in the competition it had become evident that the St. Lucian duo were viewed as a force to be reckoned with. “They dominated all the way. In the first round... Read More

Chef Orlando Treats Champions to a 3 Course

On the hills of the students outstanding performance at the recently held Caribbean Junior Dueling Competition in Barbados, Chef Orlando treated the entire group to an amazing lunch at his restaurant in Soufriere.

Orlando also took the opportunity to plan the way forward for the students and his ideas for the future of Caribbean Cuisine as well as the development of Culinary Arts in Saint Lucia.

The students were grateful for the experience, especially the presentation and flavors of the dishes presented. The students will also be making several appearances on the media including an interview with Soufriere FM... See our students in action here

How to apply for a grant from the Tourism Enhancement Fund

Do you have a community-based project which can generate employment, enhance our destination, preserve natural habitats and ecosystems or bridge gaps between Tourism and other sectors? If you do then the TEF would like to hear more about it. The following are the steps you should take to share your interests with us. All forms can be downloaded at http://www.saintluciatef.com/apply-for-grant-donate/