Nestled deep in rural Belize is the village of Willows Bank, and this past weekend it was the venue for the 3rd Annual “Fyah Haat Festival”, which was held specifically to showcase the age-old Belizean tradition of fire hearth cooking.

Villagers from near and far as well as other visitors came together on Saturday to enjoy the day of festivities, which included various events such as tug-of-war, bicycle races, a greasy pole challenge, watermelon-eating, beer-drinking and coconut husking competitions. Games for the children were lime & spoon, water balloon toss and three-legged races.

The main feature, however, was the Rodla Fire Hearth Cooking competition, a cook-off between 3-member teams representing different villages. The competition, won by a team from the city, was about technique and how to use the fire hearth for cooking traditional Belizean cuisine. The competitors were required to cook food sufficient for three judges, one for display and the remainder to be sold. This year’s theme was corn, and each team was required to cook a ducunu dinner – inclusive of ducunu, a meat of their choice, and another side dish, e.g. coleslaw, in addition to a corn-based dessert like corn porridge, corn lab or corn cake. The teams were then judged based on their organization, cooking skills, the taste of their main dish and their dessert and the overall presentation of the meal.

The event was organized by the Willows Bank Village Council under the theme “…keeping tradition, culture and heritage alive!!!”