Barbados Food & Wine and Rum Festival 2011

Bajan-style pork and potato roti

In less than a week, the 2011 Barbados Food & Wine and Rum Festival will be taking place November 18-21, and just like last year, there's a stellar line-up of chefs, seminars, cooking demo's, and of course, plenty of great Bajan food and local rum. Chefs Tom Colicchio, Ming Tsai and Marcus Samuelsson will once again make appearances alongside local Barbadian favorite "The Rhum Chef" Paul Yellin, London chef Bruno Loubet, Vitor Gomes (Brazil), Mark McEwin and Tom Brodi (Canada), Food & Wine wine expert Anthony Giglio, and a whole host of other local Bajan chefs. And, the best part? It's not too late to buy tickets as there are still some left.

If this year's event is anything like the 2010 Food and Wine and Rum Fest it's going to be quite the party. Hosted again by Travel & Leisure mags Features Director, Nilou Motamed, the festival will again present an array of a la carte activities including a bevy of up-close-and-personal celebrity chef cooking demo's, rum tours, authentic Bajan-style lunch fiestas (see above photo), even a half day food and rum cruise hosted by Canadian Chef Tom Brodi. Other highlights include Ambrosia II, an all-you-can-savor evening extravaganza featuring food, wine and rum samplings from all of the event's guest chefs followed by the highly anticipated after party, Super Sonic, to be held at the museum home of the British Airways Concorde "Alpha Echo" where the original tarmac will be transformed into an all-night party complete with live DJ's food and drink.

The Bajan gods have shined on me again this year, and I will be returning to the Barbados food and rum fest to savor as much as humanly possible without blowing up my liver, so keep an eye out for future blog posts and Twitter updates and be sure to follow my onsite coverage of the event over at Food Republic. In the meantime, here's a little taste from last year's four day party.

Chef Marcus Samuelsson serves up his take on shrimp and red grits

Chef Ming Tsai's soba noodle sushi w/ tea smoked salmon

The national dish of Barbados: flying fish sandwich

Second national dish of Barbados: flying fish cakes

One of many "cutter" stands selling salt bread fish sandwiches

Bajan brunch: flying fish, stuffed pork, macaroni pie

What the heck! Come spend Thanksgiving week in Barbados. I'll be there.

©2011 Fatback and Foie Gras. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Stuff You Gotta Eat in Barbados: An Amateur's Photo Journey

Flying fish sandwich from Hilton Barbados

Yeah, you know you wish you were in Barbados. Heck, who doesn't? It's stinking February, and if you're like me, you've got some serious cabin fever going on right now. Virginia has been nothing but cold, snow, icy rain or generally depressing overcast days that make one want to hit a local watering hole and waste an entire afternoon downing cheap beer with the locals while inhaling gobs of secondhand smoke. Not that I've done that or anything....

A couple of months back, I was fortunate enough to acquire a hall pass from all this crappy weather and make my first visit ever to the land best known as the birthplace of rum for none other than the annual Food, Wine & Rum Fest which featured all kinds of culinary genius, from foodie television gods Tom Colicchio and Ming Tsai to culinary innovators like Texan/cowboy cutie, Tim Love and "nose to tail" man-of-the-moment Fergus Henderson.

In addition to the events that surrounded the festival itself, which included intimate cooking classes with all of the chefs in attendance as well as a grand tasting where both local and guest chefs served up mini-tastes of their best of the best, Bajan food in general is nothing to snicker at. Generally, Barbadian food is hearty comfort fare dominated by fried goodies like flying fish sandwiches topped with plantains, platters of fried chicken or snapper served up with a big wedge of macaroni pie or alongside okra and cornmeal-laden Cou Cou with nearly all of it drizzled in Bajan hot sauce (a vinegar and habanero blend that'll set you right). 

Stuffed pork, macaroni pie & fried snapper

 And, don't forget the street food: saltfish cakes, Indian-inspired roti's, cutters (fried fish sandwiches topped with egg or cheese), souse (boiled pig's head and feet) and grilled pig's tails. You can sample most if not all of these goodies in one fell swoop if you're lucky enough to hit Oistin's Fish Fry on the weekends, which is a must.

Curried pork & potato roti. Hearty and dirt cheap.

Then, there's the fine dining options, which like rum shacks, can be found all over the island. Local fare goes upscale at most of these establishments yet also comes with a hefty price tag, but when you're enjoying delights such as warm lobster salad in a truffled vinaigrette or Parmesan encrusted Barracuda while overlooking a moonlight ocean, I say, save your pennies and splurge a little.

Here are a few drool-worthy highlights from the Food, Wine & Rum Fest and the lovely island of Barbados:

Chef Tim Love (left) whips up his local Black Belly Lamb Sandwiches from the Food, Wine & Rum fest at the Lion Castle Polo Estate's grand gala.

Canadian Chef Rob Feenie knocked it out of the park with his Butternut Squash and Mascarpone Ravioli topped with a Black Truffle Beurre Blanc sauce as his sous chef begins plating (below).

Not a bad view for a beach side picnic of cutters, roti's and rum punch.

Bajan brunch: fried chicken, peas and rice, plantain stuffing and a good squeeze from the hot sauce bottle.

No meal is complete without a platter of fish cakes. These were from Tapas Restaurant and were uniquely Thai inspired with just a touch of lemongrass.

For more about visiting Barbados, check out Visit Barbados

To get in on next year's, Food, Wine & Rum Fest check out the dates for 2011

All photos and text ©2011 Fatback and Foie Gras. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission Pin It Now!

Gone But Hopefully Not Forgotten

Just wanted to post quick update that I have not completely dropped off the face of the earth.  Just taking a breather to regroup after some extensive travel which now requires me to crank out beaucoup stories all at the same time.  Toss in the holidays and an upcoming trip to Rome and Positano for New Years, and the 'ole blog has been placed on the back burner temporarily.

I promise to return very soon with some fun updates from Barbardos, more NYC food goodness, and some great winter recipes to boot, including chocolate Whoopie pies and homemade granola.  In the meantime, please enjoy this lovely photo featuring the beach at Pinks Sands Resort, a place I wish I were at this very moment considering it's 20 degrees outside and our heat pump is totally conking out.  Actually, you can buy a little slice of Pink Sand's paradise if you've got the cashola.  Lots start at $700,000 and go up to $2.5 million, and yes you heard that correctly: LOTS.

In the meantime, happy holidays and I promise to return soon! Pin It Now!