Ritz-Carlton Cayman Cookout Returns for 18th Year

There’s a particular kind of magic that happens when you gather some of the world’s most celebrated chefs, hand them a beachfront kitchen, and let the Caribbean sun do the rest. That’s the recipe behind the Ritz-Carlton Cayman Cookout, and come January 14–17, 2027, it returns for its 18th year with a lineup that reads like a greatest-hits list of the global food world.

For travelers who plan their vacations around what’s on the plate rather than what’s on the itinerary, this is the one to circle in red. Set against the white sand and turquoise water of Grand Cayman’s famed Seven Mile Beach, the four-day festival has quietly become one of the Caribbean’s most coveted culinary experiences — part food festival, part reunion, part barefoot beach party, and entirely unlike anything else in the region.

A Festival Built for Winter Escape

The Cookout was born nearly two decades ago from a simple idea: give people a reason to trade snow for sand. Chef Eric Ripert of New York’s legendary Le Bernardin, who has hosted the event since its inception, put it plainly when reflecting on its origins. When he and his partners created the event, he said, the goal was to build something singular for the coldest month of the year — a chance for travelers weary of gray skies to swap them for sunshine, warm water, and a genuinely memorable meal.

That founding philosophy still drives the event today. January remains one of the more reliable stretches of dry, breezy weather in the Cayman Islands, making it an ideal time to lure snowbound travelers from the East Coast and beyond — a seasonal pull that has helped the Cookout grow from a niche gathering into what’s now regularly described as one of the most anticipated culinary events in the Caribbean, drawing thousands of visiting food lovers in past years.

Who’s Cooking in 2027

This year’s roster is headlined by Ripert alongside an all-star cast that includes Daniel Boulud, Emeril Lagasse, José Andrés, Clare Smyth, and Stefano Secchi — and that’s before you get to the roughly 40 curated experiences packed into the four days.

The programming leans into both spectacle and intimacy. On Friday, José Andrés — the chef and humanitarian known as much for his disaster-relief work with World Central Kitchen as for his restaurants — leads a demonstration inspired by the flavors of Spain. Later that same day, E.J. Lagasse hosts a heritage dinner rooted in Creole and Cajun tradition, a nod to the deep culinary lineage of Louisiana by way of a Caribbean stage.

Saturday brings the marquee event: the Culinary Icons gala dinner, where seven chefs — Christophe Bellanca, Claude Le Tohic, Daniel Boulud, E.J. Lagasse, Michael Cimarusti, Stefano Secchi, and Eunji Lee — each contribute a signature course to a single, collaborative tasting menu. It’s the kind of once-in-a-lifetime meal that would normally require reservations at seven different restaurants across three continents.

Elsewhere on the calendar, British chef Clare Smyth of London’s Core shares the personal stories behind her cooking during a live demonstration; Stefano Secchi of Rezdôra hosts a lunch celebrating the cuisine of Northern Italy; three-Michelin-starred chef Michael Cimarusti of Providence in Los Angeles showcases his approach to seafood; and Daniel Boulud presents a French-inflected lunch of his own. New for 2027, pastry chef Eunji Lee of Lysée in New York debuts a tea and patisserie afternoon built around her intricate dessert work.

The weekend also carries a lighter side. Sunday’s programming includes the crowd-favorite Ripert & Pétanque, presented by Robb Report — a friendly pétanque tournament between chefs and guests, fueled by rosé and passed hors d’oeuvres. And the festival’s opening night brings back the Barefoot BBQ, a beachfront tradition featuring live music, tasting stations from participating chefs, craft cocktails, and desserts — plus, of course, the chance to rub elbows with the very chefs plating your dinner.

Beyond the Kitchen: Rum, Wine, and the Setting Itself

While the marquee dinners tend to grab the headlines, the Cookout’s beverage programming has always run just as deep. Past editions have featured rum tastings, cigar pairings, and champagne-soaked sunset sails — the kind of à la carte add-ons that turn a single ticket into a full weekend itinerary. It’s a formula that has made the event as much a draw for sommeliers and mixologists as for chefs, with past lineups including master sommeliers and celebrated bartenders alongside the culinary talent.

None of it would work without the setting. The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman — a Forbes Five-Star property spanning 144 acres between the North Sound and Seven Mile Beach — has hosted the Cookout since its earliest days and remains the festival’s anchor. The resort is home to 369 rooms, six dining venues (including Ripert’s own Blue by Eric Ripert, the Caribbean’s only AAA Five Diamond restaurant), a Greg Norman-designed nine-hole golf course, and an interactive culinary studio built for exactly this kind of programming. It’s a resort designed, in other words, to make a festival like this feel effortless rather than crowded — a distinction longtime attendees say sets the Cookout apart from larger, more sprawling food festivals elsewhere in the country and region.

How to Actually Go

For travelers looking to build a trip around the festival, the resort offers a dedicated Cayman Cookout room package starting from three-night stays. It bundles premium accommodations, airport transfers for two, daily breakfast, and two tickets each to three signature experiences and five culinary demonstrations. Guests who book the package also get early access to reserve individual events before they open to the general public — a meaningful perk given how quickly the most popular dinners tend to sell out. Additional à la carte experiences can be added on top of the package for travelers who want to build a more customized weekend.

The Cookout’s growth mirrors a broader shift in how travelers approach the Caribbean. The region has long been associated with all-inclusive relaxation, but a growing segment of visitors — particularly luxury travelers — are now seeking destinations that double as cultural and culinary experiences, not just backdrops for a beach vacation. Events like the Cookout, or comparable culinary gatherings in destinations like the Bahamas and Puerto Rico, reflect that demand: travelers increasingly want a reason to book beyond “sun and sand,” and a weekend built around James Beard–caliber chefs is a compelling one.

What distinguishes the Cayman Cookout from bigger American food festivals is scale, or rather the intentional lack of it. Tickets are limited by design, keeping the events small enough that chefs mingle with guests rather than disappearing into VIP areas — a dynamic longtime participants have described as feeling more like a reunion among friends than a traditional festival circuit stop.

As it enters its 18th year, the Cookout shows no signs of slowing its ambitions — each edition seems to add a new wrinkle, whether it’s a debut chef, a reimagined dinner format, or a new pairing of cuisine and setting. For travelers weighing where to spend a January escape, the pitch remains as simple as it was when Ripert first dreamed it up: come for the sunshine, stay for a meal you won’t find anywhere else in the world.  

Photo Credit: The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman

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