BHARATI PAWASKAR
It’s the food that we eat which turns into blood in our bodies. Connecting the food-blood relation, an award winning chef took an initiative to organize blood donation drive on October 17 on the occasion of International Chefs’ Day which is being celebrated across the globe on October 20 each year. “There is no substitute for human blood and this drive would help the very noble cause of saving lives,” feels Jerson Fernandes, executive chef at Novotel Goa Dona Sylvia Resort who took the lead in this blood donation drive “ a first of its kind ever organized in Goa by chefs. Fernandes and his general manager Vishal Khosla have always believed in doing something priceless for the society. This was the first drive ever executed in Goa by the chefs for the chefs’ fraternity.
Jerson wears many hats and October seems to be his lucky month. Earlier this month, he was awarded the Star chef Award for 2019 by the Indian Federation of Culinary Association (IFCA) on October 4 at the eighth edition of the International Chefs Conference held at Pullman-New Delhi. This is the first award of its kind on a national level to be won by Novotel Goa Dona Sylvia in the culinary arts field.
Jerson was also recognized and awarded for the plating demo done on basic plating techniques for the young chefs present at the International Conference. He was named as an active member in the Young Chefs Association of India for his contribution to the young budding chefs in the country. He is the only chef from Goa to win these recognitions together all under the same platform.
Specialised in plate presentation, Jerson believes in serving an experience to all his guests. Coming from a humble beginning, for Jerson, it’s been quite an overwhelming journey so far. He states, “It was a roller-coaster ride. I have seen more unsuccessful days than the successful ones, thankfully, only to make me what I am today.”
Jerson started as a dish washer on a cruise and later went on to obtain a degree in hospitality management from IHM- Hyderabad where he topped all three years in college and had to choose between OCLD and management training programme where he decided to go ahead with the French company Accor as a management trainee and graduated as a Chef De Partie. After that, Jerson worked at various designations with brands such as the Taj, Marriott’s, Ritz Carlton, Los Angeles based Berggruen hotels and finally back to Accor as an executive chef at their Novotel Goa Dona Sylvia resort at South Goa.
Jerson became the first chef in South Goa to open a full-fledged Vegan bar at the resort which got awarded as the best Vegan Bar in just a month’s time. He was also awarded the best executive chef of the year - 2019 by the Food Bloggers and Critics Association of India and recognized for his contribution in the culinary arts field in Amritsar last October where he’s efforts were recognized with a gold medal and certificate by the President of World Chefs, Thomas Gugler himself along with the esteemed presidium of IFCA.
A core committee member of the Western India Culinary Association, Goan Culinary Forum, Jerson is also an active member of the Young Chefs Association of India. With his work experience in the Middle East and Europe, this young chef is known for his innovative ideas.
Jerson wanted to celebrate the International Chefs’ day with a difference. “I always wanted to contribute to the chefs’ fraternity in a different way and what better than a noble cause of saving lives. Blood donated here by all chefs would certainly save a lot of lives, hence the idea of blood donation,” he smiles.
Crediting these ideas to his nature Jerson shares, “Creativity and innovation are within us. You cannot learn to be creative or master the art of innovation. It is something which comes naturally and I feel blessed to have been awarded as the most creative chef of India in 2014 by FHRAI. I keep myself updated with the current trends in the industry by browsing various gastronomy related websites and reading a lot of books and magazines pertaining to my field. I believe in doing things differently and with a twist,” adds the executive chef.
Commenting on the difference in the food preparation in India and abroad, Jerson observes that the methods and techniques of cooking, the infrastructure, quality of ingredients, state of the art kitchens, modern equipments and tools and the work culture in the kitchens abroad are some of the highlights of the prime differences one experiences while working in India and outside. But his favourite dishes remain the same “ the chicken cafreal and potato chop cooked by his mother. And he dreams to be the best chef in the world. “My second dream is to take my wife on a world tour!,” he quips in conclusion.
