There is no shortage of Belizean cooks at restaurants and hotels but
there are few certified Belizean chefs. Tonight we can report that there are
ten Belizeans who are on their way to becoming professional chefs. Yesterday
they officially became certified culinarians at a graduation ceremony at the
ITVET in Belize City. The Prime Minister was there and so was 7News.
Keith Swift Reporting,
It was a 4 course gourmet meal –starting with split pea soup – which
was served to Prime Minister Dean Barrow. It was prepared – not by an
international chef – but instead by these ten newly certified Belizean
culinarians who are on their way to becoming professional chefs.
Pierre Brisehous, Culinary Institute of America
“Certified culinarian is the equivalent of a professional cook in
a structured organization.”
Sean Kuylen’s organization is Ka’ana Resort in Cayo.
Sean Kuylen, Certified Culinarian
“For me I have an advantage because I already have a certification,
I am already a chef and so this was a refresher course. It was excellent and 
we have a cuisine but we don’t know what it is, we can’t define
it. Rice and beans is good but we want to sell it at that price so we have to
put the local food on a gourmet level and that is the biggest challenge, even
for myself, to define what is Belizean cuisine.”
Bruce Jones works at Pelican Beach Resort in Dangriga.
Bruce Jones, Certified Culinarian
“I’ve been in the kitchen not really as a chef but maybe a cook
or helper because for you to become a chef, you have to go through the CIA so
I won’t say I am a chef as yet but we’re getting there. For me it
was a bit difficult because as I said it is the first time in Belize this program
is being introduced and so with the new international chef that came by, some
of the cuisine and some of the French terms that we have learnt is new to us
so it was very difficult.”
Keith Swift,
“How do you think what you learn will help you?”
Bruce Jones,
“Well I am pretty sure it has started because what we learnt before
we have already started to do it in our jobs and so far it is going easy for
us.”
And while they easily passed Jim Scott’s taste test, for certification
by the Culinary Institute of America - these ten culinarians had to take a 4
day long test which came at the end of an intense 3 months of training.
Pierre Brisehous,
“We started off with 18 participants, we had out of 18 ten graduates 
just before Christmas in December. It is a representation of the type of level
that we encounter with this type of program.”
The training was sponsored by the Organization of American States. Its representative
Kim Osborne says that food – gourmet food at that – is a part of
the tourism product.
Kim Osborne, OAS Representative
“We saw a gap with the BTB and the industry within the tourism sector
in Belize. Clearly we needed to improve our culinary offerings. We want every
time that every guest comes here that we are able to meet and exceed the expectations,
not just with the natural product, we have the natural product but we want to
ensure that the service quality that the quality of food that we’re offering
is of an international standard so that food is presented, local food in particular,
is presented to contemporary typical standards.”
Pierre Brisehous,
“Every resort in this country, we have a lot, we have one product
– we have Belize, we have the Maya, we have the barrier reef, but all
the resorts have international chefs. Why? We can’t cook? Of course we
can cook. We grow up on split peas and pig tail and coconut but they can’t
cook what we cook so we have to present our food at a gourmet level.”
The 10 chefs have also begun the second stage of the program which
will last for 9 months. The final exam will be administered in New York in November.
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