Gumbo is not just a food dish, it can also be a vehicle to great things.The Bermuda chapter of the African Heritage Diaspora Heritage Trail (ADHT) is using gumbo to raise funds to send a group of local high school students to the ninth annual ADHT Conference in Lafayette, Louisiana in October.“We thought gumbo would be great, because gumbo is the signature dish of Louisiana,” said cook-off organiser Maxine Esdaille. “It is also a great dish for a cook-off.”The ADHT is paying for one student from the Berkeley Institute, to attend the conference, and several more from CedarBridge are raising their own funds to attend.Five Bermuda chefs will compete to make the best gumbo including Omari Esdaille, Odinga Hodgson, Alfie Eve, LeeAnn Medeiros and Colin Lloyd.Landfall Restaurant will be decked out in a Mardi Gras theme, and chefs will be cooking at stations named after famous New Orleans streets including Bourbon Street.Attendees will each be given a number of chips. They will sample the different gumbos, and then give each chef a certain number of chips depending on how well they rate the chef’s gumbo.At the end, the chef with the most chips wins the People’s Choice Award.Three professional chefs, Herbie Bascome, Taneika Eve and Desmond Townsend will also choose the overall winner who will be crowned Bermuda’s gumbo king or queen.Ms Esdaille said she was looking forward to the night because she is a big fan of seafood gumbo.“The chefs are excited and there is already a bit of rivalry between them,” she said. “Gumbo is one of those dishes that you can spice up and make it your own.”There will be different types of gumbo at the cook-off including vegetarian gumbo, seafood gumbo and chicken gumbo.“In Louisiana, filé spice is usually a staple of gumbo, but I was surprised to learn that it is optional,” she said. “One of the organisers told me the real key ingredient is the roux.”A roux is a mixture of flour and heated fat that is the basis of a sauce. With a roux for gumbo you must tend it carefully. If it burns even the slightest, it is unusable.“It binds the gumbo together and has to be done appropriately,” said Ms Esdaille.Louisiana is the birthplace of many different styles of American music including jazz, blues and zydeco, so all those styles will be played at the cook-off by musicians such as Phiemma Caisey, Bim Bademosi, Hiram Edwards and DJ Humpty.The event is tomorrow (Saturday) at 6.30pm at Landfall Restaurant.Tickets are $25 available at 27th Century Boutique or from maxine@adht.bm.