Demand for culinary training remains strong at the Barbados Vocational Training Board, with its international cuisine programme expanding from two to six classes and the possibility of doubling that number, Director of Training Gerard Prescod has disclosed

At the BVTB’s 2026 orientation rally, where more than 350 prospective trainees registered for programmes this semester, Prescod said the response to culinary training, particularly cooking and pastry-making, has been overwhelming.

He said: “The international cuisine, we started off initially with two classes. Now we’re running six classes, so everybody wants to learn to cook, bake, do pastry making. So the response to some of those courses are very overwhelming. We’ll be glad to get that expansion finished because then we’ll probably be able to move from six to 12.”