bpTT’s Beyond Borders food plan gets ‘thumbs up’

Rambharat visited the various booths and sampled the exotic cuisine on offer.

“I sampled most of the products here and I can tell you that even though I’m very proud of the booth of my home town, Mayaro, everything here tastes first class. This was a fantastic experience and I applaud bpTT for leading the way in their role as responsible corporate citizens. They have fostered this programme which delivers a myriad of benefits, including reducing the food import bill, diversifying the economy, empowering communities and expanding our local choices,” Rambharat explained.

Thousands lined up throughout the day to savour the free samples of culinary delights developed from watermelon, pigeon peas and sweet potato by groups originating from Kernahan Village, Mayaro; Covigne, Diego Martin; and St. Barbs, Laventille.

The Living Exposition, held under the banner ‘Sustaining Communities: Building Enterprises for Community Resilience’, represents a pivotal platform in bpTT’s investment toward empowering at-risk communities across Trinidad and Tobago through the Beyond Borders programme.

Launched in 2010, the programme is implemented by The Rose Foundation and provides training in organisational development skills for groups in marginalised communities across Trinidad and Tobago.

Toco Secondary School’s Food and Nutrition teacher, Eartha Thomas, brought several of her Form Six students to experience the gastronomic magic at the expo. “I brought the students because the innovation on display here will serve them well in doing their internal assessments for exams.

We are all amazed at the versatility of the groups in transforming these ordinary products into exotic delicacies. It encourages us to stick to our local produce, which will only serve to make us healthier and wealthier as a nation,” Thomas explained.

Explaining the company’s involvement was Ronda Francis, Corporate Responsibility Manager, bpTT, “The initial stage of this programme was focused on formalising the various community groups, identifying their strengths, and developing their institutional capacity through training.

This expo is a representation of the evolution of the programme where these communities have found their areas of expertise and enterprise, and are now ready to market their products to consumers.

Not only will this bring sustainable benefits to their communities, it will also add value on a national level.” By the end of the day, some 14,000 samples were distributed by the various groups and consisted of products such as watermelon bread and salsa, sweet potato cheese and ice cream, pigeon peas pizza and pastelles and various beverages created from the three selected products.

The expo also featured other products that are being marketed as part of the overall Beyond Borders programme, including local wines, pepper sauce, candied fruit and oxygen infused water. All of this progress is possible because of bpTT’s vision of transforming communities toward attaining sustainability and giving them the opportunity to contribute to the economic and social health of our nation.”