The title, Barbados Ambassador did not come easily, it had to be earned. This is why Creig Greenidge, the 2016 Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Rum & Rhythm Chef of the Year, is proud of this prestigious honor that was well deserved.
This distinction, allows the Embassy Chef Challenge Winner, and owner, Executive Chef of CM Catering, the opportunity, to showcase his country’s food around the world.
From a ‘home cook’ to an international chef presenter, Greenidge who became the youngest to win the Barbados Chef of the Year competition at age of 25, told Caribbean Life that as a travelling chef he takes Barbadian home-style food, and twist it into elegance, depending on the event.
The chef proved his worth on Oct. 26, during an Evening at the Barbados Consulate – tourism reception, where he shared bites of his lavish ‘Bajan’ cuisine.
Guests sampled pickled shrimp, brown sugar and mustard cold slaw, and roasted sweet potato pie that was hand-pressed and fused with pineapple, coconut milk, brown sugar, and butter.
The chef boast about Barbados’ famed macaroni pie stating that it is not Mac and Cheese, but a delicious blend of macaroni, milk, mustard and ketchup, intermix with the island’s pepper sauce, and baked to a moist finish.
The evening’s dinner was also celebrated with pork ribs, seasoned with mustard and sugar. Pan seared chicken breast, and then a bread pudding dessert, sprinkled with bay leaf sauce, completed the scrumptious meal sampling.
Chef Creig, who delighted the palates of foodies, has traveled to Brazil, England, Belgium and Scotland, and United States destinations including New York, Washington DC, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles, and Puerto Rico, conducting cooking demonstrations, and presenting cuisines at food festivals and promotional events.
The Barbados Community College graduate has hosted eight episodes of the Caribbean TV cooking show, Living Well, as part of his incredible career thus far.
His online profile said. “With his style of Caribbean cuisine and his uncanny ability to create exciting and innovative culinary masterpieces, Chef Creig’s journey into entrepreneurship quickly became as meteorically successful as his culinary career.”
“Recognized as one of Barbados’ top chefs, Chef Creig has achieved his goal of being at the top of his profession an achievement he made with dedication to the preservation and elevation of Caribbean cuisine,” said the report.
For more, follow Chef Creig Greenidge on his Instagram page @ chefcreig_246.
