Tobagonians want Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to attend one of the island’s most successful culinary events, the Tobago Blue Food Festival.
Organisers of the event were at the Gulf City Shopping Complex on Saturday with an array of mouth watering delicacies. Shoppers were treated to free samples.
The festival, which takes place on October 18 from 10 am to 6:30 pm at Bloody Bay Recreational ground in Tobago, usually attracts thousands of tourists from Europe, United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It showcases one of Tobago’s prime crops, the dasheen, which is popularly known as blue food.
The festival is in its 17th year and representatives from the L’Anse Fourmi, Bloody Bay and Parlatuvier Village Councils are confident that it will attract more than 12,000 people.
Sherma Mc Dougall-Williams, product development and destination manager of the Division of Tourism and Transportation in the Tobago House of Assemby (THA), said she wanted Trinidadians to experience the festival.
“We are having a blue food showcase. Today we are giving away dasheen black cake, dasheen sponge cake, dasheen wine, dasheen khurma and anchar, dasheen fudge. dasheen quiche and cookies,” she said.
She explained that the products are made with dasheen flour, which is gluten free.
Mc Dougall-Williams explained the the festival was first organised by residents of L’Anse Fourmi.
“People came out and cooked a lot of things using the dasheen. You can enjoy it with pork, chicken or fish. Dasheen is a healthier starch and is one of the best staples you can find,” she sid, adding that dasheen flour is marketed regionally.
“Many tourists take home the dasheen flour. We are getting support from the THA to promote the festival and it is really catching on,” Mc Dougall-Williams added.
She said Dr Rowley usually attends the festival.
“We are hoping that despite his schedule this year, he will make time to come. We want people from Trinidad to come and experience the festival as well,” she said.