The first meal cooked by members of the VI Culinary Team was a success, according to people who attended a fund raiser at the Westin to help finance the competitors’ entry in the annual Taste of the Caribbean later this month in Miami. Team chefs included Andrew Power and Rodney Rightenburg of Caneel Bay, along with three other chefs from St. Thomas and St. Croix. They were selected by a cook off.
Ingredients used in the "test" dinner at the Westin included hot whit chocolate, handmade marshmallows, banana leaf and local pumpkin. "We’re making 30-some different items for 40 people," team captain Ric Ade said, according to a report of the event in the Virgin Islands Daily News.