Table Talk Food Awards.The Last Lap.

After a long, wet and for many, a super lazy, long weekend, the Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards judges are all set for their final tasting and judging session.

Coordinated by Laurel de Mercado, the pastry display this year will come from the pros in the business: there’ll be Tortuga Rum Cake, Dawn Mitchell and Janet Senior’s sweet treats and June Hughes’ patisseries. But in addition, there’ll be a formidable selection from ladies who simply love to bake.

Hobby it might very well be, but the Table Talk Food Award celebrates excellence and as such, all must come good.

Those who braved the judges Tuesday last were: artist Heather Sutherland, Wade and daughter Rachael, Petrona Luckie, Odette Hanna, Joan Lanigan, Laurel de Mercado, Judy Levy, Marigold Harding, June Hughes, Dawn Mitchell, Janet Senior and Sam Rennals.

And so the tastings commence, one sugary forkful after the next, but not before a pretty rigorous drill from Odette Dixon Neath. Participants share a bit of the history of the gateau.

Artist Heather Sutherland Wade, for example, turns a traditional carrot cake into a not so traditional dessert by sifting rice flour in lieu of wheat and by adding lots of walnuts. Joan Lanigan has been preparing her Mocha pudding for the past 45 years and can recite the recipe in her sleep, while Petrona Luckie’s Hummingbird Cake, with ingredients such as bananas, pineapple chunks, pecan, eggs and oil has found favour with many.

Sam Rennals might very well have discovered her Strawberry Delight in a cookbook but has adjusted it several ways. “The visual presentation,” she shares “is much better than when I first saw it.”

Marigold Harding has her own story of her Mango (Bombay) ice-box cake which features strips of mangoes, cherries and mango leaves.” I love to entertain,” she shares, “and as such I love to have different things to offer my guests.”

Laurel de Mercado’s crème caramel is one of those best-known secrets around town and is made by de Mercado for family and friends. Petrona Luckie got her Hummingbird recipe from Oprah’s chef. “I tried it once and then again, and have just continued.”

Never one to be daunted, June Hughes came back this week with two excellent desserts: a passion fruit Charlotte with mango, otaheiti, and sorrel coulis and a chocolate truffle mousse.

Even our “only one chance” judge was left impressed.

Odette Hanna’s Baklawa became a veritable conversation, piece presented beautifully with Lebanese tea.

And what can especially invited guests expect Thursday next on the east lawns of Devon House?

“A wonderful and artistic display of desserts,” explains de Mercado. “This is where Heather Sutherland Wade, Marigold Harding and Judy Levy come in. (Levy, by the way, will be presenting a fresh mango torte at the awards). We want to portray an elegant Caribbean afternoon feel.”

There is no doubt that the ladies who bake will have us all wanting to take a peek at their Caribbean setting as well as queuing up for sweet treats.

The competition for Best New Food Idea is kicked up several notches when Donnie Bunting of Longville Park, emerges from the kitchen with a platter of steaming herb-stuffed tilapia on a banana leaf. The taste literally blows us all away.

“This is exceptional,” declares Patrick Casserly in a rare outburst of emotion. The other judges concur, moving rapidly through the banana leaf. The fish takes my breath away literally (I swallow a bit of truly hot Scotch bonnet pepper). This is a mere hiccup, as two sips of water later, my fork is moving once again.

What’s even more remarkable about what we’re eating is the fact that three hours ago the fishes were alive and well, swimming gustily (well perhaps not too gustily) in the pond.