This Caribbean American Heritage Month, island cuisine will find a new home on American Public Television’s 24/7 lifestyle channel.

Bringing an appropriately festive close to Caribbean American Heritage Month 2015, “Taste the Islands with Chef Irie”, the first Caribbean cooking series to be picked up by public television stations across the United States, will begin broadcast as part of Create® TV’s summer lineup. The pickup by 229 Create® TV stations translates to almost 80% of television households, including those in 8 of the top 10 markets. The vibrant new series will premiere on June 29 and air Mondays and Thursdays at 8:30AM and 2:30PM (EST).

Create® TV, is the dynamic 24/7 digital channel of popular lifestyle programming distributed by American Public Television (APT). Its do-it-yourself genres include the best from APT’s extensive library of cooking, home-improvement, gardening, painting, crafts and travel series, as well as well-known titles from NETA and PBS.

“It was less than four weeks after we started rolling out in major public television markets across the US that we got the news”, Calibe Thompson, Executive Producer / Director of the Blondie Ras Productions series, said. “Being the first Jamaican production team and the first Jamaican chef to achieve this reach on public television has been surreal for all of us”.

Christopher Funkhouser, Vice President of Exchange Programming and Multicast Services at APT confirmed, “Cooking is one of the most popular genres on public television and we expect audiences will respond enthusiastically to the new series.”

Hugh “Chef Irie” Sinclair is a professional chef with a palpable love of creating delicious food. He holds degrees in both Architecture and Culinary Arts. In each episode of “Taste the Islands”, Chef Irie will create mouthwatering fare inspired by his Jamaican upbringing, the wider Caribbean, and his travels around the world.
Each episode presents an opportunity to learn about food from the native islands of Chef Irie and his celebrity guests including Inner Circle of “Bad Boys” fame, British reggae fusion singer Maxi Priest, who topped US charts with hits like “I Just Wanna Be Close to You” and “Set the Night to Music” in the 1990s, Trinidadian Olympic sprinter turned NBC sports analyst Ato Boldon and St Vincent’s “Turn Me On” hit-maker Kevin Lyttle.

“Taste the Islands” continues to roll out on independently operated public television stations across the country. Fans of Caribbean cuisine can find out where to watch locally, as well as discover recipes, view behind the scenes images and more on the show’s website, www.tastetheislandstv.com.

Blondie Ras Productions is a South Florida-based video production company that creates Caribbean-inspired lifestyle content for an international audience appreciative of cultural diversity. The company seeks to become the preeminent source for Caribbean-related television content. Blondie Ras Productions is the company behind the “Taste the Islands,” “The Caribbean Diaspora Weekly,” “Miami Fitness TV,” and “Island Origins” television shows.