fp Turks and Caicos

Coming together to celebrate their differences was the theme of this year’s fall Culture Fest at Beaches.

A tradition celebrated twice a year at the resort, Culture Fest was originally designed to bring staff from all different nationalities together.

With employees from more than 40 nations, Beaches Resort and Spa in the Turks and Caicos Islands is known as a mini United Nations. “This is a good way to interact and learn about each others cultures,” explained Beaches Public Relations representative Keva Garland-Forbes.

Staff from each nationality who are not working in the kitchen area cook traditional dishes from their home country and present them to a panel of judges. Competing for this year’s prizes where teams from Jamaica, the TCI, Philippines, Dominican Republic and Haiti.

“This is a really exciting time for the staff,” Forbes said. “Even though team (staff) members are not taking part, they are assisting those of their nationality in the preparation.”

Each team provides the hotel with a list of required ingredients, which they receive to prepare their dishes. “We are also providing traditional music from each country, to be played in the background as staff taste the food and talk to participants about their countries,” added Forbes.

This year’s first prize of $500 went to Team Jamaica, followed in second place by Team Philippines winning a $250 cash prize. Third place went to the team from the Dominican Republic which received $125.

Fun was had by all who were able to partake in the festive event, not an easy task on a busy work day at Beaches.