KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaicans entering this year’s Jamaica Culinary Arts Competition will have the opportunity to showcase various dishes using the coconut.

The coconut is the featured food for the competition, a staple on the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) annual calendar.

Entrants may register and submit entries online via the JCDC’s website, www.jcdc.gov.jm, or visit any of the 14 JCDC parish offices islandwide to complete and submit their entry forms. They will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals, merit certificates, cash incentives and trophies from sponsors.

Deadline for entries is Friday, April 28, 2023.

Acting Executive Director of the JCDC, Marjorie Leyden-Kirton, said the JCDC is seeking to promote creative dishes using the coconut, while noting that there are many traditional foods made with the local produce.

“We want to see things you can create this year in culinary, using the good old coconut. We know the traditional things we can do. We want you to enter and show us some creative new things that we can do with the coconut,” she said.

Leyden-Kirton said that participants can enter the culinary competition in seven categories, such as batters and doughs, wedding and celebration cakes, traditional Jamaican dishes, knife skills technique, recipe eriting, preserves and condiments, wines and liquors.

She noted that the JCDC has unearthed “great culinary people who have designed and created awesome Jamaican products when it comes to our food”.

“Most Jamaicans know of our performing arts and the entertainment arts, but our unique arts (culinary arts, creative writing and visual arts) are equally popular and offer to a wider set of Jamaicans other skills and talents that we so often don’t speak about,” Leyden-Kirton added.

Individuals seeking additional information on the competition may visit the JCDC’s website and social media pages.