One of the growing trends in the restaurant industry is the usage of healthy, locally-produced, environmentally-responsible foods that fall under a broader designation of sustainable.
This year’s Cayman Cookout offers an array of events featuring various concepts of sustainability.
On Friday afternoon in The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman Ballroom at 2pm, renowned sommelier Aldo Sohm from Manhattan’s Le Bernardin restaurant will lead a discussion and wine tasting of organic wines called ‘Red, White and Green’ with winemakers Hansjörg Rebholz, Michael Moosbrugger and Piero Incisa. Although organic winemaking has its uncertainties, the result is more healthful and environmentally friendly.
At 3.30 on Friday afternoon, Laurent Gras will delve into Cayman’s locally-produced ingredients to lead a demonstration called ‘Island Cooking for Well Being’. Chef Gras, who was the executive chef of L2O in Chicago when it received its three-star Michelin rating, will take time out of planning his new restaurant in Manhattan to talk about the relationship between eating well and well being while demonstrating techniques in the beach pavilion in front of The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman.
The venue moves to The Brasserie Restaurant on Saturday morning where Chef Dean Max will lead an interactive demonstration and tasting called ‘Island Style Sustainability’.
The event includes a tour through The Brasserie’s chef’s garden that extends to the small plots of growing ground in the parking lot. Chef Max will show how Cayman’s daily, seasonal foods including fruits, vegetables, fish and meat are used to produce seasonal cocktails and a menu that changes almost daily at The Brasserie.
At 11.30am Saturday, The Grand Old House will host a lunch featuring the meats of Niman Ranch, a US producer that uses only animals that are raised humanely and sustainably, fed a strictly vegetarian diet and never given hormones or antibiotics,
Back at The Ritz-Carlton at 2pm that same afternoon, Chef Max will be joined by Ohio’s Farmer Lee Jones – whose company The Chef’s Garden produces organically grown gourmet vegetables and micro greens that are shipped to fine dining restaurants all over the world – to give a talk about why it matters where the food we eat comes from. Dressed in his signature white shirt, blue-jean overalls and red bow tie, Farmer Jones is a leading personality when it comes to producing food that is healthy for people and for the environment.
Moving to Camana Bay on Saturday night, farm-to-table dining proponent Chef Michael Schwartz will team with guest chef April Bloomfield, who is also known for her seasonal, ingredient-based cooking, to host a dinner celebrating Cayman’s local ingredients. On the menu are such items as lionfish tartare, local rabbit, wahoo crudo and local vegetable giardiniera.
On Sunday, the Bon Vivant Sunday Champagne Brunch and Cook-off will feature Eric St-Cyr cooking off against Maureen Cubbon in this year’s final. Part of the rules of the competition is that the dishes prepared by participants should predominantly feature locally produced ingredients.
Finally, at the already sold-out Gala Dinner, the all-star line up of chefs will also use sustainably produced micro greens from Farmer Jones’ Chef Garden.
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