After the grand and glittering opening ceremony of the epic 10th IIHM International Young Chef Olympiad on January 29 at Siri Fort in New Delhi. The culinary heats have kicked off and every participant is giving the best to showcase his or her talent. Round 1 of the competition is in full swing at the respective IIHM campuses in Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Goa.
According to the group wise division of the countries, Group C is competing in Goa, Group D in Pune, Group E in Hyderabad and Group F in Bangalore. Each group includes ten participating countries. Group C includes England, Singapore, Seychelles, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Madagascar, Netherlands, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Bangladesh.
Group D includes countries like India, Italy, Norther Ireland, Slovenia, Azerbaijan, Austria, Oman, Spain, Wales and South Africa. Group E comprises Malaysia, Nigeria, Jordan, Iran, Luxembourg, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Armenia, Ireland and Ethiopia. Group F comprises Philippines, Turkey, UAE, Mexico, Sweden, Kenya, Nepal, Mauritius, Fiji and Bulgaria.
Before Round 1 started off, the participants of each group were given a grand welcome at each of the campuses following the traditions of the respective states of India. Group C in Goa was welcomed with a lip-smacking Saraswat Cuisine Food Festival to showcase local Goan delicacies. A colourful traditional Maharashtrian dance was performed to welcome the participants of Group D at Pune. Group E in Hyderabad experienced a classical dance performance followed by a sumptuous meal at Churrolto, Hyderabad and Group E received a colourful and exciting welcome with the traditional Dholu Kunitha dance performance.
Round 1 of the competition was a three and half hour competition comprising two stages. The first stage included a Skills Test where the participants were expected to display their knife skills. They had to chop three root vegetables as per specifications provided and exhibit them. The judges marked the competitors based on display of skills, presentation, hygiene and management of workstation and preciseness of measurements.
The second stage of Round 1 includes preparing a vegetarian dish and a dessert item. Here competitors had to prepare four portions of a main course vegetarian dish suitable for a busy Brasserie style restaurant. The dessert item was a Crepe Souffle made with oranges. Marks were awarded based on presentation, cooking skills, taste and flavour and several other technical factors like time management, hygiene, method of work and so on.
Each of the cities had a dedicated panel of international judges who will be judging YCO 2024 entirely. Apart from them, each campus had their own technical judges who were all well-known chefs of the region. The judges for Goa were Chef Rahul Akerkar, Chef Cyrus Todiwala OBE and Chef Steve Munkley – all from UK, and Chef Magdala da Baulieu Caussimon from France.
As Round 1 of the IIHM International Young Chef Olympiad 2024 comes to a close, the world waits with bated breath to see which are the names that will be selected for the Grand Finale and Plate Trophy and which countries will be paired up for the exciting new round named the Dr Bose Challenge
