Caribbean Times 55th Issue - Wednesday 20th July 2016

10 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g
Wednesday 20th July 2016
Tourism Minister addresses Mango/P
Good day, Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is an honor to be addressing
you all this afternoon “Possessing
a healthy imagination
is a necessary ingredient for
creativity.” These words by
Steve Vai express my simple
message today, as the 11 th Anniversary
of the Mango Pineapple
Culinary Competition
gets underway. Today we’re
showcasing some of Antigua
and Barbuda’s finest professional
chefs and their remarkable
creativity in using two of
our most delightful fruits. One
of which The Pineapple, is the
international symbol of hospitality
as well as a being a national
symbol of our beautiful
country.
Ladies and gentlemen, the
truth is that The Mango Pineapple
Culinary Competition is
an appetizer to one of the major
events on our list of annual
events “The Christian Valley
Mango Festival”.
It is a creative festival
demonstrating the importance
of linkages between our varied
sectors, and more particularly,
tourism and agriculture.
Tourism Minister, the Hon., Asot
Michael.
As the Minister of Tourism,
seeing first-hand how our
imaginations and inputs have
led to creativity across the industry,
I am bolstered by the
planning and realization of
this event for yet another year.
Special mention and thanks
should be extended to the entire
Mango Pineapple Culinary
Competition team, and
the judging and participating
chefs who made today possible.
However I would like
to commend and publically
recognise Mrs. Madeline Mc-
Comas who came up with the
original concept and idea for
this wonderful competition,
which has now become a permanent
fixture on our product
events calendar.
The Mango Pineapple Culinary
Competition is a part of
a unique festival that has been
a medium through which the
Ministry of Tourism and that
of Agriculture have worked
diligently to make the linkage
between our hotels and our
farmers become more than a
simplistic reality.
If truth be told, working
together between the Ministries
and with the people in
the industry has made it meaningful
for farmers and for the
hoteliers. No doubt when we
understand the importance of
tourism to our economy and
agriculture to our sustainable
development, we soon realize
that this is not just another festival.
There is a set policy in
place where we encourage our
hotels towards using more of
local farmers’ produce. Farmers
are keen of planting more
of what we and our visitors
eat. This has an impact on
the industry, which provides
foreign exchange savings to
our country, as well as bringing
to the world the Antiguan
and Barbudan flavor for which
we can all attest is simply the
best!
Moreover, this Mango
Pineapple Culinary Competition
also serves to give our
professional chefs another avenue
to publicly display their
creativity outside of their usual
environment.
If as some do say that
“Great people go wherever
their creativity takes them”, it
reinforces the strong message
that the world is our market,
and Antigua and Barbuda will
not settle for second best.
This culinary competition
has served to unveil new and
exceptional talent residing
right here in Antigua and Barbuda.
My friends, we must applaud
these chefs and our
collective selves for what we
have been able to accomplish
being a small twin island nation
with limited resources.
Just think of the accomplishments
that can be achieved