In
the year 2011, International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) - India’s
largest and most respected Hotel Management Institute Chain with Campuses at Ahmedabad,
Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Jaipur and Bangkok, pioneered for the first time in the history of India’s
culinary world a nationwide campaign of organizing a Young Chef Contest for the
School students of Class 12, which rose to become one of the biggest ever young
chef competition with over 400 Schools participating from all corners of the
nation. The Grand Finale was held in the exciting city of Bangkok. The first
ever Young Chef India Schools Contest was won by Ms. Samreen Patel of Pune who
was aptly crowned as the “Young Chef India Schools 2011”.
Young Chef India Schools 2012 is much broader and is aimed at
creating an awareness and concept about Hospitality Management and Culinary
Arts as a lucrative and exciting career option for the youngsters. Over 100 top
Chefs of the country are involved in this process and it is going to be one
of the Biggest School Level events of the Year that will be on a canvas
spanning across eight different locations of the country.
The
Grand Finale of the Contest will be held on 25th September 2012 in
the exciting Olympic city of LONDON at the Campus of University of West London,
where all the 8 Finalists will be flown in by IIHM and the entire cost of the
trip including travel, accommodation, all meals and sightseeing tours would be borne
by IIHM. The WINNER of the YOUNG
CHEF INDIA SCHOOLS 2012 will be awarded a glittering TROPHY and a CASH PRIZE of
Rs 5 LACS and the 1st Runners Up
would be awarded the Runners Up Plate
and a Cash Prize of Rs 1 LAC.
The Young Chef Schools 2012 regional prelims got off the blocks with a bang on 12th August (Sunday) with the conduct of the first contest at Ahmedabad. The day saw a mega battle between the culinary gladiators hailing from 36 top schools of Gujarat. The wannabe chefs donned their aprons, adjusted their chef caps, twirled their kitchen dusters, and braving the 47 degrees of the Kitchen, set about the serious business of conjuring up some amazing Indian dishes in the contest time of 2 hours.
The contestants cut, chopped, sliced, boiled, fried and baked their way to presenting well garnished and unbelievably tasty Main Course, Accompaniments & Desserts of Indian Cuisine. One had to be present in the IIHM Kitchen to believe that such gastronomic delights could be dished out by class 12 students, and the dumb-founded panel of judges composed of eminent masters of the culinary art - Chef Aman Tandon, Executive Chef of The Pride Hotel, Chef Uttam Sarkar, Executive Chef of Taj Gateway Ummed Ahmedabad, Chef Sanjeev Takyar, Group Corporate Chef of Indismart Group and Chef Vaibhav Patel, Food Production Lecturer of IIHM Ahmedabad, had an exhilarating as well as a tough job in evaluating to eek out one winner.
The regional winner shall be declared after completion of all regional prelims, and shall receive a Trophy. All participants received Certificates from IIHM. The Ahmedabad Winner shall fly to London in September to the Grand Finale to be conducted at University of West London (UWL), where the judges of the final culinary battle shall be none other than the famous Chef Gordon Ramsey and Food Production writer & HOD of UWL, Mr. David Foskett.
