On Friday, March 20, food lovers will gather in Ocho Rios to witness the inaugural Jamaica Jerk Challenge, featuring self-taught Jamaican executive chef Cheryl Smith of Cheryl's Global Soul in Brooklyn, New York, and United Kingdom-based celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson. Both will take on some of the world's leading jerk chefs in an exclusive cook-off, including Boston, Portland's chef, Rupert Bourne, and Ocho Rios' Scotchies' jerk specialist Mark 'Max' Miller.

The judging panel will include celebrated chef authors and key food players including Virginia Burke, Gariel Ferguson and Dennis McIntosh. This team of judges will conduct a blind tasting before announcing the winner of the Jamaica Jerk Challenge.

John Lynch, director of tourism, Jamaica Tourist Board, commented: "Jamaican cuisine is quite literally a melting pot of the world's flavours and just one mouthful can reflect the island's textured heritage. Jerk is our signature dish and is both tasty and original so it seemed like a great idea to host this challenge with some incredibly talented chefs from different countries and backgrounds. This initiative should help to showcase Jamaican cuisine to travellers who might not otherwise think to sample some of the more traditional dishes during a trip to Jamaica."

Cheryl Smith

Cheryl Smith, former star of the Food Network's Melting Pot, is a self-taught chef whose knowledge of cuisine spans the globe from classical French, contemporary pan-Asian, Pacific Rim, Moroccan, to home-style American. She's been featured on Soul Kitchen, My Country/My Kitchen, Emeril's Holiday Special, Sara Moulton's Cooking Live, Sweet Dreams with Gayle Gand, Gordon Elliot's Door-Knock Dinners and more.

She has also worked as the executive chef at Marion's Restaurant and A Go-Go Catering in Manhattan and cooked in some of the finest kitchens in New York City.

Antony Worrall Thompson

Award-winning chef Antony Worrall is a well-known TV personality. He opened his first restaurant, Ménage - Trois, in Knightsbridge, UK, in 1991, and currently has two restaurants, Windsor Grill and Kew Grill.

Thompson became the resident studio chef and main presenter for BBC2's Food & Drink programme and was previously a Ready Steady Cook regular.