Sosua Food Festival Report

Ken · Sep 30, 2012

From today's Sosua News:

[h=5]Friday 28 September a large crowd attended at the opening of the second Festival Gastron?mico Multicultural by mayor Ilana Neumann of Sos?a. Among the many people present were councilors, municipal officials, police and military. But also notables from Puerto Plata and the province. The mayor welcomed everyone and thanked the organizing committee UMPC (Unidad Municipal para Patrimonio Comunitario) represented by Carolina G?mez, for the realization of this festival. After some speeches various artists performed.[/h]

[h=5]Festival Gastron?mico Multicultural[/h]

[h=5]Festival Gastron?mico Multicultural[/h] [h=5]Among them Rebeca Garc?a Hern?ndez and Abrahan Tam?rez with a specially composed song Sos?a: 'Para Sos?a me voy aunque no haya carretera' (I go to Sos?a, even though there is no road). Meanwhile, the visitors of the festival could also taste the variety of the dishes offered in the numerous stands. There were Chinese, Dominican, Haitian, Italian, Spanish, German, French, Mexican and Russian delicacies which could be enjoyed by the audience at very affordable prices. Tonight the festival will end with a performance by Sergio Vargas.
Source and Photos: Felix Corona[/h]

[h=5]Festival Gastron?mico Multicultural[/h]

Vinyasa · Sep 30, 2012

I have been the last 2 nights and have really enjoyed it. So nice to experience a really different vibe in sosua.
The first night i ate really well courtesy of Natura Cabana's stall and enjoyed the live music (once the power came back!)

Last night the musical entertainment was, however, quite dreadful. A guy doing one of the worst elvis-type performances i have ever seen...really, was this the best they could book for saturday night??

Tonight is Sergio Vargas...a very different story.

Seamonkey · Sep 30, 2012

The city of Sosua lost a great opportunity to make this festival grow. You may have noticed that only 13 restaurants participated this year, compared to 20 last year. The reason??? The organizers asked 8000 pesos for a table this year, last year there was no charge. Only Natura Cabana returned this year and all others walked away. It's a huge shame to be so greedy and ruin a good thing. So in retrospect they could have had at least 30 restaurants participate if the price was right. I do like the new tent that covers the whole side walk and the added lights, but the festival is far from being multicultural.

LindseyKaufman · Sep 30, 2012

Seamonkey said:
The city of Sosua lost a great opportunity to make this festival grow. You may have noticed that only 13 restaurants participated this year, compared to 20 last year. The reason??? The organizers asked 8000 pesos for a table this year, last year there was no charge. Only Natura Cabana returned this year and all others walked away. It's a huge shame to be so greedy and ruin a good thing. So in retrospect they could have had at least 30 restaurants participate if the price was right. I do like the new tent that covers the whole side walk and the added lights, but the festival is far from being multicultural.

Sounds like here's your opportunity to serve on the committee next year. (No, I was not involved.....just from experience, those with constructive complaints should then help those who plan and work to make it happen.)

Lindsey

jrhartley · Sep 30, 2012

Im guessing they werent into negotiation if most of the food providers pulled out of the event

sayanora · Sep 30, 2012

8000 per table.. i wonder if the empanada place i've never heard of had to pay that.. hm

dv8 · Sep 30, 2012

i went last year but i still i missed nothing this year with a hefty charge for a privilege of serving the food at ilana's event. a real shame because last year it was great fun and i enjoyed different plates. should not have happened.
sosua needs promotion like that. last year there was a good crowd and i am sure we were not the only people from outside sosua who decided to visit.

jrhartley · Oct 1, 2012

the only advertising I saw was on sosua news and I actually went to look after hearing that the event was on , so actually saw or heard nothing about it till it happened

Bob K · Oct 1, 2012

Ok mixed feelings for me.
We went Saturday night and last night as well. It was great seeing so many people around enjoying themselves. A great mix of locals, Expats and tourists. Even the AMET,PN and Polutar seemed to be enjoying themselves. The food was pretty good are reasonable priced. Music as usual uneven and way to loud. I am convinced that a hearing aid business will do well here as most Dominicans must be deaf by age 40. It was a great side of Sosua to see.
On the down side i can understand Seamonkey's point and talking to some of the vendors there this year they won't be returning next year. I do hope that some thing can be worked out beause this could really be a great event for Sosua.
In any case a good time!

BObK

the gorgon · Oct 1, 2012

Bob K said:
Ok mixed feelings for me.
We went Saturday night and last night as well. It was great seeing so many people around enjoying themselves. A great mix of locals, Expats and tourists. Even the AMET,PN and Polutar seemed to be enjoying themselves. The food was pretty good are reasonable priced. Music as usual uneven and way to loud. I am convinced that a hearing aid business will do well here as most Dominicans must be deaf by age 40. It was a great side of Sosua to see.
On the down side i can understand Seamonkey's point and talking to some of the vendors there this year they won't be returning next year. I do hope that some thing can be worked out beause this could really be a great event for Sosua.
In any case a good time!

BObK

correction, BobK. most Dominicans are deaf by 20. that is why when you ask for scrambled eggs, the waitress brings fried, over easy. they just cannot hear, having been subjected to 120 decibels ,on a continuous basis, since they were in the cradle.

Vinyasa · Oct 1, 2012

Ok, i was wondering why there were less stalls this year. That's a real shame if they have scared people off.
Its got to be said that the food on offer was not fantastic. As i said before, Natura had some tasty options but i didnt see much else that tempted me in.

The concert last night was good but i have to say that i have never seen so many dominicans listening to merengue and not dancing....what the F??

windeguy · Oct 1, 2012

Gastronomical Festival Sosua: a Flop or a Success?

I was not at the festival last year or this year, but I just saw this posted elsewhere:

Last year?s event had the true spirit about it, as it opened the door for owners of both Dominican and Expat run restaurants to prove and promote what they were capable of. Wherever you walked on the closed off street or up in the park area, you would find plenty of vendors selling interesting foods and drinks. Last year?s event really pulled in a lot of tourists and expat visitors, as well as Dominicans. The ample vendors simultaneously became the best promoters of the event getting their friends, families, work colleagues, associations and various club members attending. The municipality needed the popularity at that stage and made the entry for restaurants free, which meant that restaurant owners only had to risk expenses like wages, extra stock and items, brochures and transportation.
This year the Town Hall got greedy and wanted RD8000 per stand from each vendor (before other expenses) and only 13 out of 150 Sosua restaurants ended up partisipating. Worse than this, it was only a ?handpicked? group of restaurant owners, whom were offered the opportunity to actually participate with a stand. Many restaurant owners are disgusted that they were not even offered the chance to partake, and some were not even aware it was happening as they had been too busy in their restaurants trying to survive in this currently dead economy. This year it would be fair to say that the organizers also abused words like ?Multicultural? as the event seemed focused only on pleasing Dominicans with nearly all performing acts being Dominican. Why was there no live Rock, blues or other forreign live music?
Everything about this event proves to be very political and yet again displays a pompous attempt to make the town hall look good, promoting Sosua like a booming multi cultural place for their up-coming promotion video?s and marketing materials. Last year was truly multi cultural, this year the very opposite!
Did you spot some tourists? Frankly speaking, nearly the only gringo?s seen there, were some of the ?long-term expats?, characters that in some way or through a spouse or employee are buddy-buddy with someone in the municipality, and a few others turned up because they knew it was happening hoping to experience what happened during last year?s success. ?If it ain?t broke, don?t tamper with it!?
We all know that both Sosua and Cabarete is suffering big time because of a list of stupid actions caused by not only the world crises, but also because of the corrupt DR Government, Immigration, Politicians, big business and by the local municipality with their uniformed harassers! In the past 10 years, the economy here has been on a continuous downslide, where robbing foreigners and middle to lower class has been the survival for these culprits. So more than ever we need the Municipality to realize the value in creating truly ?Multi cultural events?, to try attracting more tourists and expats ? don?t worry Dominicans, you are already in control and love to attend parties and there will never be a problem getting you guys attending. Just don?t ?cut your nose off to spite your face!? by scaring away the Gringo?s, as none of us like when you show off how important you or your customs are in comparison with ours ?the visitors?. Remember that no matter where we look, we are constantly reminded about your culture, so if you wish to attract foreigners, then shift the focus at least 50% to what we can bring to events like this!

Author: Anonymous

tflea · Oct 1, 2012

Sounds like the bitter-tongued 'anonymous' should find another field to plow.

We enjoyed the festival, both years.

singletravel · Oct 1, 2012

For what its worth I have to agree with a lot with what Anonymous said. There were half the stands as last year (and without TOM, Scandinavia Bar nothing special, missed those meatballs of last year), food was boring, I saw 0 "tourists" but my mechanic, lawyer and home administer were there socializing. Gregs daughter was beautiful and won an award but I was sorta embarrassed, there was one colored person there, my date and she was very very uncomfortable.

singletravel .....

DonDR · Oct 2, 2012

Cultural event! - oh please, there were only dominicans that came for a weekend to Sosua and friends and relatives of the few food stands that were present. At the very same time PC was fully packed with gringos who really didn't care about the Multi Cultural Event - all were busy as usual.

Ken · Oct 4, 2012

[h=5]From today's Sosuq News:

The three-day Multicultural Food Festival ended Sunday evening (30 September) with the magnificent performance of Sergio Vargas (merengue band). The interest for this final act was overwhelming and several thousand Dominicans and foreigners showed up to enjoy the show. This year, the number of performances and special activities were more extensive.[/h]

[h=5]El Festival Gastron?mico Multicultural[/h]

[h=5]El Festival Gastron?mico Multicultural[/h] [h=5]Visual artists had moved their studios to the festival. They also organized exhibitions of their work in the form of paintings, sculptures and photography exhibitions. Even children could be painted by artist Carolina Ventura. There were many performances by theater groups, dance groups, troubadours (including Ren? Arena) and other music bands.[/h]
[h=5]During the festival an expert jury handed out various prizes and awards. Among them the international (from TV) known chef Mimi Islas (Henr?quez) hailing from Sos?a and attending the festival was honored with an award. All restaurants, present with a stand at the festival, also received a certificate. But the owner of Restaurant Dr?cula received a special award for the best presentation and Alberto of restaurant Alberto was declared winner in the category 'best mix drink'.[/h]

[h=5]El Festival Gastron?mico Multicultural[/h]

[h=5]El Festival Gastron?mico Multicultural[/h] [h=5]The festival was attended by, among others, Eridania Llibre, (provincial government), C?sar Jos? de Los Santos (Deputy Minister for Tourism of the north coast), and many other notables from the provinces and Puerto Plata. The festival was made possible and organized by Carolina G?mez de Mu?iz (UMPC), the local government (Ilana Neumann) and the International Cooperation Agency (JICA).[/h]

ctrob · Oct 4, 2012

Is that one of Barack H. Obama's numerous half brothers? And who's the little cutie down front?

frank12 · Oct 4, 2012

I'm sorry, this will sound bitter and very negative, but i'm thinking about all of the events i have witnessed and been an indirect part of the last 30 to 40 years with my family in Bonao and Santo Domingo.

Putting Dominicans in charge of a multi-cultural event is like asking a bunch of compasinos from Bonao to take charge of the Summer Olympics in London. Asking Dominicans to oversee any event that is supposed to attract foreigners, future investors, and tourists with deep pockets is like asking the wolf to guard the sheep while you go take a nap. If there is anyway at all to make any money in this event, the Domincans will cut off their noses in spite of their face.

Someone here suggested that Seamonkey go sit in on the Committee Board and help plan the event. Yeah, right. You think they would let Seamonkey sit on the committee? I'm Dominican, and i'm certain they would never allow me to sit on the committee. Of course, before they saw any opportunity to make any money (like last year), Seamonkey or myself might have been abe to sit on the committee. But once they saw the opportunity to make money, there is no way seamonkey, myself, or anyone else here on this forum--including Ken--would be invited or allowed to sit on the committee.

I don't think people here understand the mentality of Dominicans in political power or with authority. they're not going to relinguish their power, nor invite someone from the outside who will challenge or question their decisioning, their actions, or their authority. This is counter productive to staying in power, or at the very least, being seen as in charge. This is the mentality for nearly all of the Carribean.

People with little education, very little world experience, and virtually no CEO experience whatsoever of running a company and having to defend your decisions and actions in front of a board or commitee, will never do well in these kind of multi-cultural events and organization. Go into the homes of some of these dominican politicians and talk to them when they're out of the public view--when they're with only their friends--only then will you know what i'm talking about. some of you guys here are so clueless. Really clueless. Even some of the people here who have been here decades are so clueless about dominican politics that it defies all logic.

These people in charge have such little education, such little world experience, and despite being doctors or lawyers or a myriad of other so called "professional" occupations, they are just Camposinos at heart--a product of their environment and nothing more. Yes, many of them are good people. friendly people. warm people, but their ability to run an organization efficiently, or organize an international event--even one as benign and small as a small multi-cultural event in Sosua--is laughable at best.

I think the biggest problem here is that, not being dominican, and not being privy to what goes on behind closed doors, many people here fall for the fallacy that somehow things here are organized, effiecient, transparent, up-front, honest, and that the people behind these events and organizations are somehow qualified to run them.

Nothing further could be from the truth.

Frank

the gorgon · Oct 4, 2012

frank12 said:
I'm sorry, this will sound bitter and very negative, but i'm thinking about all of the events i have witnessed and been an indirect part of the last 30 to 40 years with my family in Bonao and Santo Domingo.

Putting Dominicans in charge of a multi-cultural event is like asking a bunch of compasinos from Bonao to take charge of the Summer Olympics in London. Asking Dominicans to oversee any event that is supposed to attract foreigners, future investors, and tourists with deep pockets is like asking the wolf to guard the sheep while you go take a nap. If there is anyway at all to make any money in this event, the Domincans will cut off their noses in spite of their face.

Someone here suggested that Seamonkey go sit in on the Committee Board and help plan the event. Yeah, right. You think they would let Seamonkey sit on the committee? I'm Dominican, and i'm certain they would never allow me to sit on the committee. Of course, before they saw any opportunity to make any money (like last year), Seamonkey or myself might have been abe to sit on the committee. But once they saw the opportunity to make money, there is no way seamonkey, myself, or anyone else here on this forum--including Ken--would be invited or allowed to sit on the committee.

I don't think people here understand the mentality of Dominicans in political power or with authority. they're not going to relinguish their power, nor invite someone from the outside who will challenge or question their decisioning, their actions, or their authority. This is counter productive to staying in power, or at the very least, being seen as in charge. This is the mentality for nearly all of the Carribean.

People with little education, very little world experience, and virtually no CEO experience whatsoever of running a company and having to defend your decisions and actions in front of a board or commitee, will never do well in these kind of multi-cultural events and organization. Go into the homes of some of these dominican politicians and talk to them when they're out of the public view--when they're with only their friends--only then will you know what i'm talking about. some of you guys here are so clueless. Really clueless. Even some of the people here who have been here decades are so clueless about dominican politics that it defies all logic.

These people in charge have such little education, such little world experience, and despite being doctors or lawyers or a myriad of other so called "professional" occupations, they are just Camposinos at heart--a product of their environment and nothing more. Yes, many of them are good people. friendly people. warm people, but their ability to run an organization efficiently, or organize an international event--even one as benign and small as a small multi-cultural event in Sosua--is laughable at best.

I think the biggest problem here is that, not being dominican, and not being privy to what goes on behind closed doors, many people here fall for the fallacy that somehow things here are organized, effiecient, transparent, up-front, honest, and that the people behind these events and organizations are somehow qualified to run them.

Nothing further could be from the truth.

Frank

i went to Expo Cibao, so i know exactly what you are talking about. anything more complicated than a hot dog cart is a serious organizational challenge.

the gorgon · Oct 4, 2012

ctrob said:
Is that one of Barack H. Obama's numerous half brothers? And who's the little cutie down front?

actually, that IS Obama. he said that tostones were a little too crispy.

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