For at least one couple, love was on the menu at the Taste of Virgin Gorda food festival on Saturday evening.
As the island’s top restaurants offered up culinary delights at the sugar works ruins at Nail Bay, a couple on a yachting holiday from Yorkshire, England, stumbled across the extravaganza and found it to be the perfect place to celebrate their second anniversary.
“The food is equally as delicious as the company,” said Victoria Harris, a 29-year-old chartered surveyor from Leeds. “There’s definitely a romantic charge to the BVI. The scenery is beautiful. Everything looks like a postcard.”
Her partner, Louis Howarth, a 33-year-old businessman, was similarly smitten.
“Victoria’s beautiful at home, but she’s even more beautiful here,” he told the Beacon.
The two were among more than 200 people who attended the event, which was part of the year-long 2025 BVI Food Fete series, according to Keith Dawson, the BVI Tourist Board public relations manager.
Mr. Dawson said the event drew bigger crowds than last year, which was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic overhang.
“It went very well. And once we clear expenses, we put funds towards scholarships for tourism students in the territory,” he said. “Every year, the Tourist Board presents scholarships to the top-performing students in the islands.”
‘To spread the love’
The crowd was entertained by a whirlwind display of cooking by chef JJ Johnson, who flew in from the United States for the occasion to highlight his signature Afro-Latino Caribbean flavours.
“I’m a chef from New York City, and I am here to spread the love and enjoy BVI,” he said. “The greatest thing that attracted me to the food festival is the people who live in Virgin Gorda. I can connect with the community here. I can learn about different foods, and I heard it was a beautiful place. And they were right.”
Mr. Johnson raved about the variety of food on offer at the event.
“It’s the most amazing food I have ever seen here,” he said. “I got the snapper from a local fisherman. I was just showcasing how you can use local foods to make something delicious.”
The evening showcased local restaurants including Chez Bamboo, CocoMaya, Exquisite Delights, Lee’s Roadside Bar and Grill, Moka, Sugarcane Restaurant, The Jerk Pit and Winnie’s Steak House.
Attendees sampled cuisine and listened to soulful music throughout the evening.
British Caribbean News
