The Blue Food Festival continues to impress patrons with the innovation and creativity of Tobagonian cooks who utilise dasheen as the main ingredient for countless dishes, pastries and drinks.
At every corner of the Bloody Bay Recreation Ground on Sunday, dasheen was on display in countless forms: dasheen black cake, dasheen pholourie, dasheen ice cream and dasheen punch.
Kervin Horsford, also known as Harvest Gawd, was one of the many chefs who prepared several dishes with dasheen as the main ingredient, all accompanied by other ground provisions and wild meat.
“I mean, it is Blue Food. You can’t come here and not have dasheen products offering for the people. So we have dasheen dumpling, and when I say we have organic dumpling, it is not no dasheen flour; it is what you actually use flour, you puree the dasheen and use that as liquid to make your dumpling.”
It was common to see black cake, sponge cake, bread and pone, all made with dasheen, including offerings from Andre Seaforth and Deborah Seaforth Catering Service.
“This is our dasheen pone; it has dasheen as well as coconut, a bit of ginger, and this dasheen also has a bit of hibiscus in it, so you know this would bring back the flavour to Tobago.”
With the abundance of dasheen products available, one would think it would be an easy ingredient to work with. According to Jelene Seaforth, this is not the case.
“It’s tedious, but it’s really, really nice because when you taste that flavour of this, it’s natural, homemade, I am calling it Tobago, when you taste our Tobago treats, our Tobago food with dasheen, its spectacular.”
These mouthwatering creations, crafted through the ingenuity of Tobagonian cooks, transformed familiar dishes into extraordinary culinary experiences, as Secretary of Food Security Wane Clarke attested.
“Dasheen buss up shot and rabbit… and how does it taste… I’m eating, I ain’t throw way none.”
Patrons also praised the use of dasheen as a dip to accompany a Trinidad and Tobago household staple.
“Crix with a dasheen salsa. So the salsa is made up of cubed sauteed dasheen chunks, corn, its very tasty, very lovely.”
“I am having the Crix with the dasheen bush and saltfish and it is very delicious. It’s really nice. And we just arrived but we already enjoying the environment and everything in here, there is so much to offer here.”
There was also a variety of dasheen drinks.
Dasheen wine was available throughout the festival.
Patrons also had their choice of dasheen punches. While many were traditional punches, Shannon Walters from Wingfing’s Cuisine offered a vegan option.
“I’ve listened to people around speak about how they like punches but they is not able to really enjoy it you know guilt-free so I decided you know I could be the one to fill in that gap for people who like punches.”
With food and drink in hand, patrons were treated to several activities, including a petting zoo and live performances by various artists.
“This is about the 3rd or 4th time I have been. The favourite part is the food. But also I like to see the arts and crafts, I like the community spirit, the coming together, Tobagonians, Trinidadians, other people from far and wide coming, that is the most important thing for me. 22 And I like the improvements they made since the last time I came.”
“The favourite part of my Blue Food festival is which part I buy the food. I buy the food across on that side and I had like coo-coo, callaloo, dasheen, and some pork. It taste very good, I enjoy that part of it.”