The buildup to the event was HUGE, and Mireya and Ana deserve some serious credit for the work they put in to organizing everything and then gathering all the necessary materials so that six teams could all be cooking at the same time. That, and then they put all 15 of us up in their house too. Also, a huge thanks goes out to the Montepuez Missionaries, who lent us Fugoes (Charcoal stoves), pots and pans, tools, and some serious bedding to keep everyone comfortable. I think as a result of them, we only had one or two people sleeping on the floor.
The teams were organized by site, with each site being their own team. Initially, I was supposed to be a part of Team Montepuez and cook with my site-mates Anna and Mireya, but on Friday night, literally just a few hours before the competition was set to begin, the unthinkable happened, and was thus forced to declare my independence and found Team Montepuez #2: I received a very unexpected delivery of passion fruit, and lots of it.
My motivation for the break was as follows. A few weeks back, I found myself alone in my house, with nighttime quickly approaching and a growing pain in my stomach that could only be quelled by depositing a whole of something delicious. I was feeling a bit experimental, and that’s when the idea struck me: Grilled chicken drenched in a marinade of pungent African garlic and lip-puckering passion fruit. I had chicken and I had passion fruit, so why not put it together and see what came of it. Well, it was good. It was real good. When I saw that bag of passion fruit sitting there beckoning me from Anna and Mireya’s table when I arrived to the cook off on Friday night, I knew what had to be done. These people needed to learn about Passion Fruit Chicken. And just like that, Team Montepuez #2 came into existence.
The competition was on Saturday, and started out with a pleasant little opening ceremony, introduction of each team, and a hanging of the team banners. The night before, we each made banners to represent our team. Mine was unnecessarily inappropriate and violent display of one stick figure decapitating another and an irrelevant quote all set in front of a Mozambique flag that replaced the cris-crossed AK-47 and Enchada with a big Jewish Star. It was a tasteless masterpiece that was actually quite ironic due in part to the fact that it represented what is probably the most delicious and creative dish I’ve ever made.
We spent all day working trash-talking while preparing our dishes, and when 4pm finally arrived, I was surprised that everyone was actually ready. As per the rules, each team had a presentation plate for the crowd to salivate over before they were able to actually try a hearty portion from the reserve. Each team was given a chance to introduce what they made, boast a little, and then talk about what was in it. Then we feasted. That was my favorite part. My least favorite part was the voting that happened after the feast. That was hard. And also, it took me away from shoving food down my throat, and I don’t like to be interrupted when I’m eating.
In the end, Team Chiure took home the crown. Well, it wasn’t so much a crown as it was a goat carved out of black wood that was holding spoon. So now they get to spend the next year boasting about their victory and rubbing it in our faces. But watch out, I’ve got a lot of time to come up with something good to make for the next one. I just hope it’s still passion fruit season…
Here’s a list of what was made and by who:
First Place:
Team Chiure (Eirc and Derek): Slow-cooked BBQ-style Pork stewed in a tomato base and served with white rice and grilled pineapple.
Second Place:
Team Montepuez #2 (Will): Grilled Chicken marinated in Passion Fruit and Garlic and topped with a Passion Fruit, Onion and Honey Reduction Sauce (I don’t actually know what reduction means in this context, but it sounded appropriate)
Third Place:
Team Ocua (Lona and Adrienne): Green Thai Coconut Curry with peanuts and a sweet potato base.
Other Dishes, listed in now particular order:
Team Balama (Rafael): “Balama Butter” - Homemade Peanut Butter served as a sandwich and spread inside a mini-loaf of house bread with slices of fresh bananas.
Team Montepuez #1 (Anna and Mireya): Goat-Cheese and Mushrooms Calzones made from scratch
Team Mariri (Elizabeth and Jaime): Banana and Coconut Stuffed French Toast with Buttermilk Syrup, made using a homemade loaf of cinnamon Irish Soda Bread.
Late Entry, participants arrived too late to enter, made their dish the following day:
Team Macomia (Eryn and Marin): Cake with homemade chocolate frosting.
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