NASSAU, The Bahamas – Eight Mile Rock High School’s Pendisha Gelin, an eleventh grade student, and Akhepran International Academy’s Amina Eneas, a 7th grader, are the first place winners (senior and junior respectively) of the 2022 Bahamas Young Chef Culinary Competition.

An aspiring chef, Pendisha entered the contest to fulfill a childhood dream. Her Junkanoo risotto with pan seared grouper (rice dish) and lobster trap (flour dish) enticed the judges and pushed her to the winning position.

She has earned a $10,000 scholarship to Johnson and Wales University (JWU) for the fall semester 2024 that is renewable up to 4 years.

She has also received a Free Registration Certificate for Career Explorations Program that entitles her to attend JWU Summer 2023 at Providence, Rhode Island or Charlotte, North Carolina Campus. Other prizes include:
$1,750 cash scholarship and gold medal from Mahatma Rice and Robin Hood Flour, Keith and Sara Parker Founders Plaque and $1,000 gift certificate from Going Places Travel to assist with travel to the Career Exploration Summer 2023 sponsored by Global Culinaire Inc.  Her school also gets the senior high school floating trophy for a year.

The idea of being a junior young chef appealed to 10-year-old Amina, so she pursued the Bahamas Young Chef Competition. The youngest competitor, her career choice is to become a surgeon/gynecologist. Her dish: jasmine rice, crusted breadfruit, pigeon pea burger with guava salsa (rice) and triple layer, lemon coconut cookie with no bake guava cheesecake filling (flour).

Amina has won the following: free registration for Career Explorations Award Certificate to attend JWU Summer Explorations program in Providence, Rhode Island or North Carolina, a $650 cash scholarship and gold medal from Mahatma Rice and Robin Hood Flour, a plaque from Keith and Sara Parker Founders and the junior high school culinary competitions floating trophy.

Sixteen senior and 15 junior Family & Consumer Science Education students from 11 Family Islands participated in the 3-phase competition -- school-based, district and island.

They were challenged to create unique dishes using Mahatma Rice and Robin Hood Flour which represented the 30th anniversary theme “Bahamian Culinary Arts: Sustainability Across Land and Sea”.

The competition featured a supplementary Social Media contest for the first time. The students were challenged to use Jiff Peanut Butter to create an original dish, record a video and submit it on a social media platform. The team with the most likes was selected the winner.

Awards were presented to the winning students Friday, November 25, 2022 during a ceremony at the Learning Resources Section.  Parents, sponsors, coaches, judges and organizers attended the event which was livestreamed.

Althea Hamilton-Grant, Assistant Director, on behalf of the Hon. Zane LIghtbourne, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education and Technical and Vocational Training, congratulated the participants, organizers, industry partners and teachers.

“These 25 national round participants, 13 juniors and 12 seniors, are all brilliant young chefs. They have expanded their gastronomic imagination, performed under stress, accepted criticism and learned from it.  It is safe to say, the future of culinary tourism in The Bahamas is looking very bright,” said Ms. Hamilton-Grant.

She reminded the students that the Bahamas Young Chef programme was established as a public-private sector partnership along with the support of parents and exceptional learners.

“This model has proven to be a successful one as the program is now in its 30th year. We are proud of the fact that thousands of students and hundreds of Family and Consumer Science Education teachers have benefitted from the investments made over the  years. This can be seen in the increased level of skill and the advances in food preparation techniques demonstrated each year during the culinary competitions,” she said.

Students shared their reflections of the competition during the ceremony. Destiny Cleare, a student of L. W. Young Junior High School, had less than 2 days to prepare for the district competition. Her third place win pushed her to the national rounds. She gained a wealth of information and enjoyed every moment of competing. She won third place in the national competition.

Tevin Turtle, a student of L.N. Coakley High School and the only male winner, finished fourth. He said he acquired new skills, learned new techniques and created friendships. He described the presentations during the workshops as “phenomenal”.

Sia Wright of grade 12 at Akhepran International Academy, said the intensity of preparing the dishes in a short period with eyes watching every movement and judges asking questions is an experience that has prepared her for “almost anything”.

Sharon Ferguson, former FCSE coordinator, Ms. Hamilton-Grant and Krizia Williams, Public Relations representative for Robin Hood and Mahatma Rice, presented the prizes.

All 1st-4th place winners in each category have received cash scholarship awards, medals or ribbons, and certificates to attend a JWU Summer Career Explorations program. The 2nd and 3rd place senior winners received $5,000 scholarships to JWU for fall 2023.

The winners are:

Junior High School Category
1st place – Amina Eneas, Akpepran International Academy
2nd place – Christina Lesbott, Central Eleuthera High School
3rd place – Destiny Cleare, L.W. Young Junior High School
4th place – Napetra Storr, San Salvador Central High School

Senior High School Category
1st place – Pendisha Gelin, Eight Mile Rock High School
2nd place – Gabrielle Ferguson, Doris Johnson Senior High School
3rd place – Cleshora Joseph, Jack Hayward High School
4th place – Tevin Turtle, L.N. Coakley High School

Althea Hamilton-Grant gives remarks on behalf of the Hon. Zane LIghtbourne, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education and Technical and Vocational Training.

Pendisha Gelin presents her dishes during the schools' National Young Chef Competition.

Pendisha Gelin on Zoom during awards ceremony.

Amina Eneas, a 10-years-old student of Akhepran International Academy and winner of the junior division of Bahamas Young Cherf Culinary Competition is pictured with her awards.

0604 - Gabrielle Ferguson a student of Doris Johnson Senior High School, is the 2nd place winner in the senior Bahamas Young Chef Culinary Competition.

BIS Photos/Patrick Hanna