They may not be experts at cricket, but in the culinary arts Essequibians are second to none.
The Cinderella County made no mistake in that regard in the form of the Carib Boys Crew, who served up a sizzling serving of extra special curried duck that blew the judges away and earned the 25-person team the World Duck Curry title last Sunday night at the Starlight Drive-In cinema venue.
The occasion was the fourth staging of the International World Duck Curry series that attracted 11 teams from Guyana, New York, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Suriname.
Having seen their county team blown away in the Inter-County four-day and limited overs cricket competitions in the last few weeks, Carib Boys Crew, sponsored by the popular Trinidad brew, dug deep into their best recipe to hold off strong competition from countries where curried duck is the most favoured of all curry specialties.
“We want the entire country to know that Essequibo is good at putting things in your stomach; cooking is our thing and duck curry is the best,” stated an elated Anthony Williams, one member of the 25 strong crew.
From the United States, USA New York Danny took the runner-up position and they were followed in third place by the second of three teams from the country, USA Village Crew.
Carib Boys Crew took home the first prize of US$1000 and 100 per cent gold medals while New York Danny and USA Village Crew earned similar type silver and bronze medals respectively.
Unrestrained joy enveloped the team from Johanna Cecilia village when the winner was announced.
They flooded the stage where Trinidad and Tobago chutney King, Rikki Jai, was rocking the crowd with various versions of chutney dance fever.
“Once they announced the second and third place names, we know we had done it again,” another member of the crew boasted, in reference to them winning the 2004 Guyana title.
Guyana was also represented by three other teams comprising Taylor, owned and headed by the person of the same name, and better known as the country’s premier cricket ground spectator leader; Uitvlugt and M&M.
Persistent rain most of Sunday did not prevent a healthy sized crowd showing up for the show that is fast becoming an eagerly awaited date on the social calendar. These days the musical entertainment is just as important for the crowd as sampling the best curried duck in the country.
This time they were not disappointed as show-stopping musical performances by Rikki Jai, Terry Gajraj, female Soca champion Big Red and Indian sensation Bindu among others, kept the crowd jamming to the beat well into the night.
Proprietor of Kings Jewellery, Looknauth Persaud, who has been organizing the show for four years, said this year’s event was well worth the time and energy he spent putting it together.
“It’s becoming bigger every year, and it’s good to see the excellent response we had this year despite the weather.”
