Chicago is on the menu for a team of Bermuda College students who left the island yesterday for a restaurant exhibition highlighting the latest in techniques, tools and technology.

The culinary students worked for nine months fundraising to pay their own way with more than $40,000 — buoyed by a $5,000 Ministry of Education grant.

The group headed to the National Restaurant Association Show at McCormick Place, home to the biggest convention centre in North America.

Teneika Eve, senior lecturer and chairwoman of the faculty association in the college’s division of business, hospitality and technical education, said: “For a young culinary mind, it's a really amazing experience.

“They are going to walk the floor. Now, if you can imagine, the McCormick Centre is three stories high, the size of a football field — so it is huge, and we will be there for a couple of days.”

She added: “It will open up their minds as to what's outside Bermuda and what's coming down the pipeline.”

The trip includes a walking food tour of Chicago’s Chinatown.

Among the group was Javontai Bailey, looking forward to his first time in the city, who said: “I want to be able to enjoy the environment, be able to see different things, be able to see what Chicago is like, enjoy the scenery and the different types of food.”

Kalen Jones said the food show meant that “I get to experience all the latest technology and the innovations that are coming to the culinary world”.

Dr Eve said the group had done “an incredible job to raise that amount of money” and thanked Lindo’s in Devonshire for allowing the students to hold bake sales on its premises.