Culinary Art India (CAI 2013), professional culinary excellence challenge organised by Hospitality First in association with the Indian Culinary Forum, was the special attraction of Aahar 2013, a premier international fair for food, food processing and related equipment, hotel and restaurant equipment and supplies. Aahar is now recognised as one of Asia’s leading events.
The five-day long event witnessed around 300 chefs participating from leading hotels, restaurants and hotel management and institutes across the country, whereby they competed under the category of Live Cooking and Display.
The idea behind Culinary Art India is to create awareness about the profession of chefs and felicitate the achievers in this profession. A host of culinary artists from across the country who may not necessarily be in the public eye or may not be well recognised celebrities but who have excelled in the field of ‘Satiating the Taste buds’ of the public, receive honour during the event. The objective of ICF is to act as a link, useful and necessary instrument for the national community of chefs through this platform,” says chef Davinder Kumar, President of Indian Culinary Forum (ICF).
A jury comprising the best names in the culinary world was empanelled to judge the scores of the culinary creations which were delighting, dished out by the talented contestants, all were on display at the ‘Culinary Art India 2013’.
The competition was held at Hall No 15 with different categories each day. Best Tier Wedding Cake, Artistic Pastry Showpiece, Artistic Bakery Showpiece, Fruit and Vegetable Carving, Butter/Margarine Sculpture, Plated Appetizers, Petit Fours or Pralines, Three Course Set Dinner Menu, Desserts, Mocktails, Dress the Cake were all the part of the competition. This year ‘Culinary Art’ brought more interesting categories like the Turkish cuisine competition and Kohinoor passion for flavours. “I am very happy to be the part of CAI jury this year. The standards have improved and I could see the enthusiasm that the participants or the students from various hotels and restaurants carried, who has taken efforts to showcase their innovations and win in each category. This is good sign for the industry and I feel such competitions should be encouraged so that our budding chefs gets an opportunity to know what is happening in the industry and also a good networking platform to meet various renowned chefs from the industry to recognise their talents,” says Boopesh Pichaimani, national chef, Le Chocolatier.
Chefs from the national capital’s most leading hotels, restaurants and institutions were in full force to take up the challenge. To name a few, Le Meridien, Radisson Blu, MBD, Sheraton, UEI-Global, Rohini, The Oberoi, Pind Balluchi, IICA, IIHM Pusa, Old World Hospitality and many more were present.
The first day began with Authentic Indian Regional Cuisines and Fruit and Carving competition. All the participants had to follow certain guidelines given to them. The second day witnessed three-tier wedding cake Authentic Indian cuisines and Petite fours and Pralines. The third day began with Artistic pastry show piece and Artistic bakery showpiece, Plated Appetisers and Kohinoor passion for flavours. On 17 March 2013, there were three-course set dinner menu, desserts, mocktails, and dress-the-cake.
The pull of the entire show rested on the regional cooking this year. This category specifically potrayed the different authentic cuisines of different states in India. “Definitely, the show is a good effort by the organisers but needs more improvement. The cuisines have to be more authentic and would need a good push in terms of presentation and competition pattern. Each hotel could be asked to prepare about 50 to 80 portions of food whereby the public could be given a chance to judge the entire scene, says Umesh Mattoo, Corporate Chef, Ascot Hotels and Resorts Ltd, New Delhi.
The show not only provides a platform for senior professionals but also extend an excellent networking scope for budding chefs from various institutions. The toughest parameters were at play, while the competition was judged by chefs from the leading hotels and institutions this year. The basic judging parameters were composition, degree of difficulty, innovation, cleanliness, timeliness, presentation, practical, taste and originality. Though the parameters were stringent, the enthusiasm among the chefs were undying. All the contestants had to adhere to the stringent rules of the show and had the challenge to showcase them in the given time limit to the judge.
After four days of intense competition and Judging, it was the Culinary Art India Awards Ceremony 2013 in the evening at Silver Oak of India Habitat Center, New Delhi. More than 300 chefs had gathered to cheer the winning teams sharp at 7 pm. The chief guest for the function was Parvez Dewan, Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, and Chairman of the Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC). The organisers and the jury members
were also present for the evening. Awards were given to the winners for different categories held on five days. All in all the winning contestants walked away with silver and gold medals along with the certifications. Also, the winning teams were given prize money by the turkey chefs.
“It was a pleasant experience for me. I had participated in the previous show also in the same category. I had the expectation of winning a silver medal this year, though I had less time to bring our innovations. As times passed by, I have observed that the quality of judging has improved and I expect that this platform would serve the best place for all the aspiring professionals in the hotel industry,” says, Habeeb Khan, CDP, Radisson Blu Hotel Noida, and a silver medallist for the category — three-tier wedding cake.
But, it was a different scenario for Mohammad Irfan, executive pastry chef, Country Inn and Suites Hotels, New Delhi, who made Gandhiji’s Charkha of pure chocolate for the artistic pastry show piece and Bread oven for Artistic bakery showpiece. “It took me around 16 hours for preparation of the charkha and four hours for bread oven. It was a challenging one when we were given only an hour to present in both the categories. “There is much improvement in terms of the number of the contestants and the quality of the show this year. I have participated three times in the show and this year I won gold and silver medal for the artistic pastry and bakery show piece respectively. I was happy to see the international chefs from countries like Turkey which was an added advantage for professionals, opines Irfan.
