Barbados Food and Rum Festival launches with a fresh taste Loop Barbados

Black Immigrant Daily News

Under the theme “Feed the Future”, a revamped Barbados Food and Rum Festival was launched last Friday evening.

After a two-year hiatus, the official launch, which took place August 26, kicked off with a motorcade that travelled from the headquarters of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc (BTMI) in Warrens to Golden Square Freedom Park in Bridgetown. There, the launch activities culminated in an extravagant display of the finest liquid and culinary fare which was on offer to the crowd that converged at the central location.

In her official address, Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Senator Lisa Cummins promised that the festival had returned, bigger and better than before.

“Our team has put together not just the four nights of amazing events, we have the Cask Fest, you have the Rum Festival that’s going to take place, you have the St. Lawrence-based event where in St. Lawrence Gap you’re going to have a mini carnival-type atmosphere. We’re going to be going from one location to the other, sampling food,” Minister Cummins explained.

Propelling the festival will be 28 chefs and mixologists and the minister explained that it will be receiving international coverage.

“We have a couple of familiar names that are going to be flying in as our international partners, including from the Food Network, who are going to be here to say to all of you and to the rest of the world that Barbados competes on an international stage and can hold its own alongside the best chefs in the world,” Cummins stated.

The Minister also disclosed that the BTMI had partnered with lifestyle travel magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, which would provide further international exposure for the festival and provide for one of the island’s chefs with an opportunity to visit its New York City office.

In addition, Cummins also stated that pre-launches of the festival had already taken place in all of Barbados’ major tourism source markets including the United Kingdom, New York, Washington and Canada.

The Food and Rum Festival is slated to run from October 27 to 30 but there will be several events in its lead-up, including monthly community-based culinary pop-up experiences which will be hosted in partnership with the National Cultural Foundation (NCF).

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