Taste of Cayman is the longest-established food festival in the Cayman Islands and continues to expand operations apace. 

Over 3,000 people are expected to attend the 2012 event, which takes place at Camana Bay on Saturday, 28 January. From 5pm, attendees will get the chance to sample the wares of around 40 participating island restaurants, each with their own booth, plus many designated areas for wines, beers, mojitos and more. 

“There are 43 participating restaurants and vendors,” explained Lucy Wilcox of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association. 

“There will also be eight wine, beer and speciality drink vendors over many different booths. The festival also is assisted by 192 volunteers and the floor space is 119,200 square feet.” 

The festival ticket costs $35 in advance or $45 at the gate, free for those under 5 and $15 for 5-to-12 year-olds. For this, you receive 14 food tickets, which you can exchange at booths for a tasting plate of food. Depending on the dish being served, vendors charge one to four tickets per portion. Additional food and drink tickets can be purchased at four ticket booths within the festival or at the main gate. 

For adult ticket holders, there’s also a free (plastic) Taste of Cayman wine glass and a complimentary wine pour, and to alleviate that familiar not-enough-hands problem, the first 3,000 ticket holders will also receive a wine lanyard which enables you to secure your glass around your neck. Probably best to do this when it’s empty, to be fair, but regardless it gives guests both hands back to enjoy the fare on offer. 

Environmentally-conscious as we all are these days, the festival has commissioned a special Bamboo spork for each attendee, which is picked up on entry, to alleviate thousands of unnecessary plastic forks and spoons being used. 

The festival first took place in 1986, founded by Mike Flowers and originally held at Safe Haven. In those days, it was run by the Restaurant Association but since the establishment of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association has been run by the tourism body. The festival moved into Camana Bay in 2008. 

New for 2012  

New for 2012 is an added Mojito Lounge, billed as the best Mojito outside Cuba. Live DJs provide good vibes for the dancetastic skills. One very important addition to the busy festival is six rehydration stations, courtesy of Flowers Bottled Water, which will be providing complimentary water to attendees. 

Another great area is The Hangout, a sports bar area, which features TVs courtesy of WestStar, showing great sports action. Hosted by Cayman Distributors, The Hangout is somewhere to grab great pub food and take advantage of a full beer bar. Margaritaville is hosting events on the Island which promises to be a match made in paradise. 

There’s going to be an outdoor kitchen from Bon Vivant hosting a bunch of demonstrations, including learning all about the lionfish, and more importantly, how to cook them up in a delicious way, in the company of Home Gas who like most are very passionate about Cayman’s environment. 

Chef demonstrations at the Home Gas lionfish Demonstrations at the Bon Vivant Kitchen are hosted by Derek Bolingbroke, who promises not to hypnotise anyone. 

There’s also an interactive photo booth which will enable instant pics and help guests upload their shots to social media such as Facebook and Twitter - be the envy of your friends, that is, if they’re not at Taste of Cayman already. 

As ever, the Department of Tourism will be sponsoring and Hot FM hosting All Things Cayman - a lounge featuring traditional Caymanian crafts, music, decor and more. Home bakers will be competing for the prize of Best Heavy Cake 2012 - and bragging rights to last throughout the year. 

And of course there’s also the small matter of voting for Cayman’s favourite restaurant. In the entry pack all guests will receive a special token. After sampling your choice of wares on offer, simply put the token into the box on your favourite booth. 

There are three entrances to the festival this year including a boat entrance for the intrepid, so no excuses. 

Schedule of demonstrations:  

5.30pm, Chef Indika (Guy Harvey’s); 5.45pm, Chef Ron (Tukka); 6.15pm, Chef Thomas (Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink); 6.45pm Chef Louise (Bon Vivant, Technical Demonstration); 7pm and 7.30pm, Chef Dora (Cobalt Coast Resort) 

All things Cayman schedule:  

5pm, surprise opening act; 6.10pm, Clever Knots; 6.50pm, Heavy Cake Competition winners announced; 7pm, BaCKBeAt; 8pm, BluWater; 9pm, I Am; 9.40pm, Regeneration; 10.40pm, Bona Fide. 

Main schedule  

5pm, Gates open; 5pm - 10pm, food served; 5pm - 11pm, Photo Booth and ballot drop-off for Prize Draw; 7.45pm, Fireworks; 10pm, voting for Cayman’s favourite restaurant closes; 11.45pm, festival site closes.