World’s Biggest Young Chef Olympiad For Culinary Students

When I was invited for an exclusive food bloggers meet with Mr.Suborno Bose, the director of IIHM and Celebrity Chef Shaun Kenworthy at IBIS in Mumbai, I had no clue that there was an important event brewing up and the young chefs from 67 countries were to come together for an event called ‘Young Chef Olympiad’ This is an event that will bring the whole culinary world under one umbrella. Some of the well known chefs, and the important people from food industry from all over world have been roped in as consultants and judges.

Over a cup of Cappuccino, I learnt about this biggest ever event that is to take place on our 67^th Republic day in Delhi that will bring culinary world together.  The students who will participate in this event are the best young student chefs that will represent their country; these are the students who are undergoing graduation in food and hospitality in their part of the world.

The format is that the event will be held in four cities over the period of six days. Starting with Grand opening ceremony on 27^th Jan 2016 at Talkatora Indoor stadium, New Delhi;

In the round one in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, the students from 67 countries will participate in the competition, Round two will be narrowed down to seven participants in Kolkata, who will then compete in finals at Kolkata on 1^st February 2016

The competition will be on their creativity and the techniques they use while churning out a dish. There will be marks on cleanliness and hygiene and how effectively they use their ingredients. For example: if they are given 600 grams of fish with its skin on, and 500 grams of potatoes, they are asked to cook for four people, then they are judged on how they utilize the ingredients proportionately. Another example, if they are asked to cook three course meal and not allowed to same ingredient twice, then how they used their creativity. Thus they will be judged on their skills.

This event will be important because it will connect different chefs, mentors and well known personals from food industry around the world, and the students will be able to learn new techniques through interaction with other students from different parts of the world.

Looking forward to this events, I am sure it will be the most interesting and a good learning experience for young chefs.

An Evening At Hokey Pokey

I went back to Hokey Pokey to try out the winning ice cream combination that one of the team of food bloggers had won. “Secret Affair’ was the creation I was looking for.  It was not yet listed on the hall of fame, so I opted for mango delight with crushed nuts.

15days ago, I was there with my food blogger friends. It was a fun event, when all my food bloggers had gathered outside Hokey Pokey one evening to taste different ice cream flavors. It was not just that, we were divided into four teams, and each team had to make 3 different kinds of ice creams using our imagination.

In a competition, each team had used their imagination creating amazing combinations that included ice creams, nuts, Indian sweets, chocolates, etc. Team B had won with their creation of ‘Secret Affair. They had used coffee ice cream. They had added few pieces of crushed honeycomb and few chocolate chip brownies to come up with new creation to be included into hall of fame.

At Hokey Pokey, the main idea is to be creative in three steps. Pick the flavor, pick the mix in and watch them churn out an ice cream on cold stone. But I am afraid, not many people are noticing that. The friends that I took along with me; did not bother to see ‘hall of Fame’, nor did they notice the cold stone that is used for churning ice creams, they headed straight to the area of ice creams, tasted a spoonful of each flavor and then decided on the flavor they wanted.

That is really sad. Nobody pointed out that Hokey Pokey is more than just spoonful of a scoop. Nowhere was the fact stressed that Hokey Pokey outlet also have a live kitchen, where customers can order an ice cream creation and get it made in front of their eyes.

I learnt the first hand knowledge of mixing Ice Creams when I met Founder, Rohan Mirchandani. He explained that they custom make every scoop taking into account the taste and the preference of the customer. The brand has to overcome the unfamiliarity of the customers with made-to-order assembly. The pounding of ice creams with chocolates, nuts and sweets and do it with flourish on the cold stone is what sets it apart from other parlors.

That is the brand’s sole focus.

Hokey pokey is a flavour of ice cream in New Zealand, consisting of plain vanilla ice cream with small, solid lumps of honeycomb toffee. Hokey pokey is a New Zealand term for honeycomb toffee. Wikipedia

It is this idea that Rohan has brought to India.

Rohan says he wants to position Hokey Pokey in the same league as Haagen Dazs and Ben&Jerry ice creams. He explains how the product has more fat content (16%milk fat), less air and is all vegetarian to cater to larger segment of Indians. To take its interactive ice cream counters beyond its own stores, the brand has tied up with different outlets that include coffee chain across the country.

I turned to my friend and asked her to watch while I select my favorite. She saw him remove a scoop of mango ice cream (that I had selected) and keep it on the cold stone, crush few pieces of cashew nuts and almonds (on my request) and mix it with flourish. She was impressed.

“I too, want one like this for me” she said

The good news is that Food Food Channel was there to record the event and in case you missed it, you can see it on U-tube .here

Cocktail Making Competition

I took part in cocktail making competition at Mogamoto (Fort) and was surprised when my team  bagged the first prize.

We were the team of food bloggers grouped into 3 persons for each team and the idea was to create an innovative cocktail. Since I like spicy stuff, I decided to add black pepper.

It was a relaxing afternoon at the Mogamoto at Fort, restaurant done up beautifully with drapes on the ceiling and art on the walls. A flight of 10 wooden steps separates the restaurant into two levels giving it a cozy touch.

Each team went behind the bar at the cocktail station to play around with the ingredients. There were drinks, juices, syrups, garnish and exotic ingredients. The temptation to make an innovative cocktail was strong. Initially, I wanted to be just an audience, watching all the teams perform, but at the last moment, I was inspired too and decided to make something different by playing around with the ingredients.

It was fun watching team prepare the cocktail. There was lotsa discussion on what to add, with little prompts from the bar tender, who were always willing to help. The crew of ‘Food Food Channel’ were all set with their cameras, shooting the session for their program, while the judges asked questions after every drink, discussing the ingredients used, and then passing around to everybody to taste and pass the verdicts.

Team A

Team B

Team C

Team D

 I am not much of cocktail or mocktail person. If left on my own, I will just sip plain water. But in a company of friends,( so as to not stand apart), I will have a small glass of fresh juice. Lately cocktails and mocktail have made remarkable appearances at the parties. You feast on finger food and sip your drink. To go with a flow, I drink whatever is available. I normally take just one small glass and it stays with me as an ornament after few small sips.

So, what is cocktail?

A cocktail is kind of a salad, mixing of hard drinks, fruit juices, herbs, water and whatever you fancy. It normally consists of three different classes of ingredients.

The first: the base.

Base is normally some sort of spirit like gin, whisky, vodka, wine, brandy, etc.

The second: The modifier.

This is used to bring out the aroma of the base and to modify the taste. The main flavoring is normally different fruit juices.

The third: The flavor

Flavor is added to enhance the taste of the base and also adds color to the drink. Common special flavoring are basil leaves, kafir leaves, lime, lemon, ginger and other garnishes.

Most cocktails are also decorated with fruit slices like orange peels, cocktail sticks, mint twigs etc.

Off the track, a friend asks 

‘Why did cocktail bleed?’ – 

because it was bloody Mary, 

another Q- ‘Why did cocktail not marry? – 

because it preferred to be virgin Mary……