A Scotsman has brought home the silverware for Bermuda after competing in a culinary competition in Florida last month.

Chef Colin Wilson's centrepiece was awarded a silver medal at the sixth annual Taste of the Caribbean `99 contest in Miami, held from July 28 to 31. Nine other junior (culinary students) and senior delegates from Bermuda travelled to the competition.

Mr. Wilson's gazebo centrepiece was made of ice sugar, gelatin and lemon juice and included representations of Longtails and native Bermuda flowers. He spent some 24 hours constructing the piece in Bermuda several months before the competition. It was unfortunately damaged during the return trip to Bermuda.

He was also presented with the Spirit of the Competition award after he competed without his own knives, which were lost en route to Miami.

But in hindsight, Mr. Wilson claimed more sponsorship would have increased Bermuda's chances for success in the contest.

"There was a lot of politics involved,'' he said.

"Some countries sponsored their teams more than others. Jamaica was there with Sandals and the government sponsoring them. If our team had received more sponsorship, we would have most definitely won the gold.'' "We had good comments from many of the judges. We are really pleased with how we did, although we could have won the competition,'' said Mr. Wilson.

Mr. Wilson is currently the Pastry Sous Chef at the Southampton Princess, where, in the absence of the chef, he is responsible for all desserts and bread served in the hotel's six restaurants and room service.

He hails from Glasgow and arrived in Bermuda in 1996. He will be travelling on to Australia this October to gain more experience.

Mr. Wilson has also won a first place prize for cold desserts at the Agricultural Exhibitions and other awards in Scotland.

The Taste of the Caribbean competition brought teams of chefs for qualifying rounds of "live kitchen'' competition in which each team prepared a three-course meal for 60 people in under five hours, using a mystery basket of ingredients.

The Bermuda team prepared a mahi mahi seafood appetiser with green and black beans, followed by leg of lamb stuffed with mushrooms and onions. Dessert consisted of a mix of baked plantains, caramel sauce, shortbread, pina colada ice cream and phyllo pastry.

The Taste of the Nation evening required that each team prepare hors d'oeuvres native to their country, and Bermuda's junior team came up with some exciting combinations of chicken, banana, pork, tomato, sushi of rice and other ingredients.

Both the junior and senior culinary teams were awarded silver medals for their overall performances. Bartender Delvin Caines also won a bronze medal for his cocktails.

Top chefs bring home the bacon! The other members of the team were Olivier Ramos, Teneika Eve, Mathew Line, Oshea Tucker, Markus Wesch, Christian Buggelsheim, Sherman Trott and Antoine Smith.

"I think both teams performed very well,'' said Junior team coach Joe Gibbons.

"We had one of the most experienced senior teams down there. They worked very hard and the more often we go, the more we understand how the competition works.'' The Bermuda team has been together for two years and first participated in the competition three years ago when it was held in Puerto Rico.

Four gold medals were awarded to Curacao, the Bahamas, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago who advanced to the finals, where Curacao came out on top. Other countries represented included Puerto Rico, Antigua, Barbados, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.