What an amazing culinary year we’ve had! Indeed, we’re pretty amazed that we got it all covered, and are still smiling. Our 17th annual Table Talk Food Awards unearthed scores of culinary gems and we are thankful that it forced other publications to take a look, too… It’s all good! For, monies spent in our parishes benefit all. We continue to applaud each and every one of our parish judges.

Salut! and Applaud It! were both oversubscribed, and I gather I made a record 17 appearances (quelle horreur!) and still managed to fit into my Christmas outfit! Kudos to our corporate partners who met the next generation exactly where they were and afforded memorable life lessons. Thank you for my place setting.

How glorious it was to know that so many of you enjoyed our culinary treks, once again to Trinidad & Tobago, and for the very first time to Grand Cayman. From Kingston, Jamaica to Qatar, where chefs Dennis McIntosh, Brian Lumley and Alecia Woodbine repped for the black, green and gold, to Washington, DC where Nicole Shirley is part of the outstanding pastry team at L’Hommage Bistro Francaise in the Mount Vernon Triangle, and Houston, Texas, where Jacqui Francis has tantalised the taste buds of hundreds of Texans with Jacqui’s Jamaican Rum Cakes, we’ve had column inch after column inch of foodie news.

In the United Kingdom, Jamaica Patty Company at Covent Garden continues to expose Jamaican patties to a more cosmopolitan set of foodies. Rudie’s, the stylish Jamaican eatery located on Stoke Newington Road, has been on a delicious jerk roll since its October opening and is definitely one to watch for 2016.

Both Best Dressed Chicken and CB Foods have been aggressive in their pursuit of market share; the consumers have benefitted, and we look forward to even more innovations.

OUR PERSONAL HIGHLIGHTS

The Best Dressed Chicken picnic in the park — Hope Gardens — to launch the 12 Chefs of Christmas Series, and the outstanding Private Affair brunch, curated by Michelle and Suzanne Rousseau and Ardelle dalla Costa, at the National Gallery of Jamaica, which brought the curtain down on the CB-sponsored Jamaica Food & Drink Festival.