Kesi Asher, Staff Reporter
A Portland contestant prepares his chicken at the Pan Chicken Championship at Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre on Sunday.
THE PAN chicken men from St. Thomas, St. Mary, St. Catherine, Portland and Kingston & St. Andrew, converged on the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre on Sunday, August 28, for the second staging of the CB Pan Chicken Festival.
In July, the first leg saw Westmoreland, Hanover, and St. James competing in Montego Bay for the coveted prizes.
The third leg will cater to St. Elizabeth and Manchester and will take place on September 24, at the St. Elizabeth High School.
The family oriented cook down attracted many patrons and sponsors, including National, RJR 94 FM, RE TV, Lasco, Wisynco (makers of WATA and Bigga) and Caribbean Passion, subsidiaries of Caribbean Broilers. The event started at approximately 10:45 a.m.
Patrons entered free to have their jerked chicken Sunday dinner at $50 per quarter, with a serving of National bread and natural sauces. DJ Whiteman of Clear Sound Production kept the turntables busy with popular dancehall and hip hop songs. Jus Kidz Party Rentals and Party King provided Scooby Doo and Castle bounce-abouts, toys and food booths for the children. The Crazy Jim ice cream stand provided creamy delicacies. There were several booths such as I am Bless, a jewellery and toy stand; The Cake Shoppe, Albany Nursery and Mix Jewellery.
CB ATTIRE
Both female and male competitors were dressed in bright yellow CB Chicken chef hats and aprons. For the competition they received CB chicken choppers, forks, cutting boards, and jerk pans, Lasco sauces and seasoning, sanitizers, cleaning apparatus, and National bread.
While the competitors vied for the $20,000 plus trophy first prize and the second place $10,000 and trophy, MCs Ity and Fancy Cat provided patrons with belly bursting comedy. Performances also came from the Tivoli Dance Group and the New Vision group. Gospel duet Pinky and Janice created a CB chicken jingle. Damion Wilson danced the 'Willy chicken' and the MCs did the Beyonce shake all to the crowds delight. A light drizzle at 11:50 a.m. did not take the fun out of the day.
"The vibe nice, once we a enjoy weself the people dem wi enjoy themselves, that's how we do it," commented Fancy Cat. Patrons won aprons, bread and gift packages courtesy of Grace, Lasco and Facey Commodity Limited.
SOMTHING FOR THE KIDS
Children got into the act as they danced and modelled in front of a roaring audience. The 2005 Popular Song Competition winners, Khalil and Pure, made a special guest appearance.
The cook-off started at 2:00 p.m. The "jerk chicken" men were required to prepare one whole chicken in sixty minutes for judging. Points were allocated for sanitation, presentation, taste, creativity and use of local ingredients among other things.
"It show seh di man dem pon di street a do something productive, CB mek that possible, Jamaica famous fi jerk chicken so di competition will be tough," remarked Ity.
Olivier Lavoine, food and beverage director at the Hilton Kingston was one of the judges. "The competition should be done more often as the sanitation process will be improved among pan chicken men in Jamaica," said Lavoine.
The judging began at 3:00 p.m. Some pan chicken men desperately tried to appease the late attendees, who dramatically reinforced the phrase "a hungry man is an angry man." Others, who had already sold their stock, sat back and weighed their chances of winning the possible back to school fund.
At the end of the day, Lloyd Sterling of Kingston walked away as the first place winner, while Sylvia Plummer placed second.
The first place winner from Portland was Levi Gregory and the second place winner was Retenella Cunningham. St. Mary's first place went to Joseph Brown, while second place went to Shearlorn Boota. The first place winner for St. Thomas was Dorith Brown and second place went to Fitzroy Blake. St. Catherine's winner was Damion Davidson, while Marcia Foster captured second place.
