culinary judges.

Bermuda College chef lecturer Frederick Ming was to have made his international debut as a judge at the Taste of the Caribbean competition in Puerto Rico. But the event has been cancelled due to Hurricane Georges. (See story below.) However, Mr. Ming's career as a judge will not suffer as a result of the cancellation.

"I was not only appointed to be a judge at just this event,'' he explained.

"I could be called upon to judge other events.'' The American Culinary Federation, which is affiliated with the Caribbean Culinary Federation, extended an invitation to Mr. Ming to become part of the international panel of judges.

Mr. Ming said his excitement regarding the invitation was tempered by the realisation that he would not be able to coach Bermuda's National Junior Culinary Team.

Last year, during the Bermuda's premier appearance at the prestigious event, the junior team, under Mr. Ming's direction, won a gold medal and achieved the highest overall score ever.

"I had mixed feelings about whether to go back and defend our titles or to be a judge,'' he admitted. "But I have still been working with the teams in getting ready for the competition.'' To become an international judge Mr. Ming had to travel to Nassau, Bahamas during the summer to undertake two weeks of practical and theoretic training.

"We looked at the rules which govern judges' decisions like presentation and hygiene,'' he added.

Mr. Ming said he was looking forward to representing Bermuda as a judge at the prestigious event and being presented with his certificate at a special ceremony.

"This was the beginning of my international career as a judge and I was going to be presented with my certificate, but there will be other ones.'' Mr. Ming said his real concern was for the Bermuda National Culinary Team who had put so much into preparing for the event.

Mr. Ming and the team were scheduled to depart the Island on Friday.

Frederick Ming