Shortly before the closing date of the first edition of the Festival of Gastronomy, the Tourist Office organized a meeting between the chefs and the local press, on the French side and the Dutch side, as well as with the correspondents of the international press, invited for the occasion to cover the Gastronomy Festival.
At the head table installed in the multipurpose room of the Lycée Professionnel Daniella Jeffry, the skewer of chefs made up of Alain Warth (coordinator of chefs during the festival), Kénila Hyman (chef from Saint-Martin), Edna Butcher (chef at Sainte- Lucie), Serge Gouloumès (French chef), Michel Portos (star chef from Marseille and sponsor of the festival), Jimmy Bibrac (chef from Guadeloupe, sponsor of the festival), Kareem Brooks (chef from Saint-Martin) and Laurent Huguet (star chef from Alsace ). The presentations were made by the director of the Tourist Office, Aïda Weinum, who then left the microphone to the journalists. Regarding their experience of Saint Martin and their participation in the festival, Michel Portos said he was seduced by the destination. According to him and from the top of his 38 years of cooking, the common thread of the profession of cook is meeting with other chefs, exchange and sharing. Without forgetting the discovery of a terroir and its producers. Regarding the first edition of the festival, Chef Portos considers it successful while having proposals for next year such as organizing a cooking workshop with high school students for a morning to establish a recipe from A to Z with them. On the question of the culinary pride of Saint Martin, it was Kénila Hyman and Kareem Brooks who spoke. The first praised the merits of Saint-Martin recipes such as Journey Cake and Pumpkin Waffles. Chef Brooks has claimed the strength of Saint Martin to have a varied cuisine without ever losing its identity. Edna Butcher confirmed, for her, each restaurant has its own signature. Serge Gouloumès, for his part, responded to the lack of local products by emphasizing the intelligence of the region's restaurateurs in reinterpreting a recipe. Jimmy Bibras outbid "the future of Saint Martin is its cuisine, you have to make local farmers want by believing in their know-how". Asked about the impact of his visit to Saint Martin on his cuisine, Laurent Huguet is delighted to develop his recipes around the association of spices, he will not forget the basics of French cuisine but the memory of Saint Martin will remind him to make his plates even more colorful and joyful. _VX
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