IIHM presents International Young Chef Olympiad kicked off with a grand opening ceremony on January 29, followed by the first round on January 30 and 31. The first, or the preliminary round, was conducted across five IIHM campuses across India – Delhi, Goa, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Contestants from around 60 countries all over the world travelled to these five Indian cities to present their culinary skills in front of distinguished names of the culinary world globally. The contestants were divided into groups of ten for this round. This round had two stages of skill test, where each competitor was required to prepare four portions of a main course vegetarian dish suitable for a busy Brasserie style restaurant, with a selection of 14 ingredients out of 28. The ingredients had to include 50g of carrot or sweet potato or potato cut into juliennes, 50g of carrot or sweet potato or potato cut into brunoise, 50g of carrot or sweet potato or potato cut into jardiniere, 50g of carrot or sweet potato or potato cut into macedoine and three chateau potatoes cut into six to eight sides in the mentioned measurements. The contestants had to cut it using only appropriate kitchen knife(s) and label the completed cuts as set out on a presentation tray. The peelings and any other waste had to be kept for viewing by the judges. Along with this, the contestants had to prepare a crepe souffle using oranges. Glimpses of round one from various campuses across the country:
The Delhi campus students presented a welcome dance
Chefs Parvinder Bali and John Wood were two of the judges among others who supervised and judged the round one contestants at the Delhi campus. “I think more and more countries are participating. Students are much calmer and cleaner. They are focusing on basics. They are incorporating sustainable ingredients. Round one is technical, they have to replicate the sample in 30 minutes, and for the next round two-and-a-half hours, they have for the veg dish and dessert. And they think they have a lot of time, but that is where they go wrong. Only three or four could finish on time. The rest were struggling a lot. My suggestion is to keep it simple and adhere to the rules. Many a time they don’t read the rules. Make sure you are working neat and clean and have a work plan ahead. Check the oven beforehand as it could be different from those in your country,” said chef Bali. John Wood added: “This is my eighth time in this competition. This is becoming a highly recognised competition and people are up in their game. There are 57 countries this time. It gets better each time. Time is always a challenge in the first round. They think 30 minutes and two-and-a-half hours are long durations. But that’s not true. Before you come here practice. You gotta do it blindfolded. I went to lots of competitions. I practice 20-30 times before going.”
DELHI:
Alina Rozhda from Switzerland during the knife skill round. “This is a competition so big that I haven’t been to before. So, I was a bit confused about how things work especially figuring out the oven was difficult for me. I consider YCO more like an experience of coming to a new country and experiencing new things,” said Alina.
Luis Ndumu Asangono from Equatorial Guinea during the first round. His vegetarian dish was beautifully plated in this round.
Aidan Lyon of Scotland cooked Deep-fried Ravioli with yellow pumpkin, aubergine and parmesan crisp, red lentil and coconut sauce. It had an aubergine caviar base. "I rushed myself too much and faced the consequences. I learnt from it. I am looking forward to the learning experiences. I have learnt there is no need to rush," said Aidan.
Kaone Kwati of Botswana presented a beautifully plated veg dish in the first round at the Delhi campus.
GOA:
Roc Mondriaan from The Netherlands competed at the Goa campus, where contestants from countries like Singapore, England, indonesia and Uzbekistan competed against each other.
PUNE:
Pol Cusell Rocamora from Spain cooked Indo-Cataln Bomb for round one at the Pune campus, which also had contestants from India, Italy, Wales and Austria.
HYDERABAD:
Alanna Sarah Moffitt from Ireland cooked Tortellini Pasta with Red Dal, Spiced Tomato Chutney and Basil Cream for round one at the Hyderabad campus, which was also where competing countries included Malaysia, Iran, Maldives and Nigeria.
BANGALORE:
Baran Kalmaz from Turkey presented Monti with Vegetable Stuffing and Cream Sauce for the round one vegetarian dish at the Bangalore campus. Other contestants there were from The Philippines, Nepal, Fiji and Bulgaria.
