By Elvin Carl Croker
PEPPERPOT is traditionally among the first cuisines enjoyed by most Guyanese on Christmas Day.

In celebration of this fact, communications expert Andrea Bryan-Garner hosted the first Pepperpot Festival held on Saturday at Thirst Park, Georgetown. Garner said the idea for the festival came to her in a dream.

Giving her reaction to the festival, Garner said the experience was truly amazing. “The smells of pepperpot wafting through the air as you shopped really felt like a Guyanese Christmas.

“I saw children, seniors, young people,[the] middle-aged…everyone…and they said they had a wonderful time. I have to pinch myself that it actually happened. From dream to reality!” Bryan-Garner exclaimed.

The festival which attracted over 70 vendors and hundreds of patrons was hailed as a huge success.

On display was a wide array of locally made products such as honey, pepper, bottled tamarind balls, tamarind sauce, and different types of soaps.

Also on display were toys, jewellery, craft, different assortments of snacks, and cakes. A full range of things that people might need for Christmas and to usher in the Christmas season were available.

“We don’t want to only do pepperpot, but to be able to have patrons shop early for Christmas and usher in the Christmas season,” she said as a reason for the variety of items on display.

“I’m very relieved, satisfied, overwhelmed; the weather held up, all the vendors came out, people came out in their numbers and enjoyed free pepperpot.

“It’s a great feeling to know that you come up with a concept and to see it come to life,” Garner further said in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle about the event.

One patron, Leslie Sue, said the Pepperpot Festival was a huge success and called for it to be a yearly event.

“I was able to taste fish pepperpot and it was delightful. The lady said she made it with mackerel,” Sue expressed.

The event saw a number of persons winning thousands of dollars in prizes

Winning the $50,000 Bounty Voucher was Vonette Patrick, who said she was very elated to have won.

“I live in Trinidad and I visited my dear friend Deborah who invited me. I don’t think I’ve ever won anything before, so this is very great, I feel blessed. I feel happy and I feel loved and I’m grateful,” She happily exclaimed.

Other winners came from 15 competitors competing in three categories, namely ‘Traditional Mixed Meat,’ ‘Single Meat’ and ‘Vegetarian,’ for the pepperpot Taste Off competition.

Penelope Harris took away the first prize of $200,000 in the ‘Traditional Mixed Meat’ category.

Christina Basil of ‘Dat Yoga Shop’ who took home her first prize of $100,000 in the ‘Single Meat’ category and Back to Eden’s Katahar and Squash pepperpot won $100,000 in the ‘Vegetarian’ category.

They were also second and third prizes in each category.

The competition was judged by Radha Singh of the Carnegie School of Home Economics, Samantha Francine Baker of Brown Sugar Catering, and Chef Beason who is Head Chef at the Pegasus Hotel, Guyana.

Garner said she hopes to make it a bigger annual event. “We maybe have to change our time and do it earlier in November because of the wet and rainy season coming in, so we could utilize the open ground,” she noted.

“I think this is something Guyanese can look forward to and they would really appreciate,” she further said.