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Young Chef Olympiad has become one of the most iconic events in the world of hospitality and for chefs-in-training across the world. The sixth edition of the contest is being held across Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Goa and Kolkata between January 28 and February 2, and features 55 countries competing for the YCO Trophy, $10,000 cash prize and a Gold Toque.The final round of the contest is set to be held in Kolkata.
The first two rounds of the Olympiad were held in Goa, featuring contestants from Singapore, Nepal, Oman, Seychelles, Italy, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Iceland and Thailand.
International chefs Stefan Hogan, Stuart Littlejohn, David Graham and chef Avijit Ghosh from India were the judges for the Goa leg of the event. Chef Paul Jervis was the adjudicator for the event in the city.
“It is the sixth year IHC along with IIHM is hosting the world’s largest culinary challenge between the budding chefs of the world. The participants had arrived from over 55 countries to compete for the Gold Toque and prize money of USD 10,000. However, it is not the money or the trophy that they take back with them. It is the warmth and hospitality of IIHM and India that they carry with them back home. This is one platform that unites the world together against all the differences. What could be better than food which touches the heart of people all over the world?” asked Shabnam Jana, director, IIHM Goa.
“It is always wonderful to come back to college and give something in return. It was a fantastic show and everyone performed to the best of their capabilities. YCO is a wonderful platform to meet people from different countries, it is not just about the cooking moreover it is about the international connect. An amazing initiative by IIHM and everyone should make the most of this opportunity. All the best to the contestants,” expressed chef Jerson Fernandes from Novotel Goa.
Chef David Graham observed, “Sustainability is very important for chefs and specially the caterers as it is very important for the people in this field to encourage the idea of respecting the nature and our responsibility to protect it and it is impressive to see that IIHM realised this need and beautifully incorporated the sustainability theme with YCO and this way it becomes a great platform to promote ideas like zero waste and no plastic.”
A panel of distinguished international judges comprising celebrity, iconic chefs from across the world presided over the competition at various stages.
The competition
n Round 1: Participants will be required to prepare four portions of a boned chicken dish with accompanying garnish in one-and-a-half hour. In this round the cheftestants will be judged on their basic skills, innovation and creativity.
n Round 2: Participants will be judged on cooking technique, portioning, presentation, colour and finesse of the dishes. This is the vegetarian round and they will have to prepare a dish suitable for lunch at a Bistro or Brasserie along with a Pear Flan Bourdaloue and a basic custard sauce based on the ingredients provided to them.
n The Grand Finale and the Plate Trophy Finals will test the participants’ creativity, innovation, cooking skills and professional good practice in a time bound environment. The finalists in both categories will be given two hours to prepare four portions of a vegetarian starter and four portions of a King Tiger Prawn main course dish with the same basket of ingredients. Both dishes must be prepared to be served in Brasserie Restaurant.
n The grand finalists will be provided with a secret ingredient. They will have to write about the health benefits of this ingredient and hand it over to the judges before the final competition.
