To honour the winners of India's biggest Culinary Challenge, Indian Culinary Forum (ICF) organised the 14th Culinary Art India Award at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. One of the most loved food-related festivals, Culinary Art India is known for its thrilling competitions among the chefs. The 14th edition of Culinary Art India was organised by Indian Culinary Forum & Hospitality First in association with ITPO along with the International Food and Hospitality Fair.
The winners of the 4-day culinary competition were bestowed with awards in the presence of Chief Guest, Mr. Vijay Wanchoo, Sr. Vice President, The Imperial Hotel among other top-notch names from the culinary fraternity. Delhi's Le Meridien Hotel won the maximum number of awards in India's largest Culinary Challenge- Culinary Art India.
The 4-day culinary competition saw more than 300 Chefs from around India showcasing their culinary expertise through chocolates, cakes, fruits, vegetables and everything that’s edible, out of which total 142 chefs won the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals for their culinary excellence. The objective of the competition is to establish an opportunity for the senior and apprentice chefs across India to display their individual and combined skills, creative talent, learn and share experiences.
Chef Davinder Kumar, President, Indian Culinary Forum said, “It gives me immense pleasure to organise the 14th Culinary Art India, a professional culinary challenge where chefs were given a platform to demonstrate their culinary skills as well as help them improve to meet international standards. ICF will constantly thrive to bring our fraternity closer and continue our commitment to encourage the betterment of the culinary profession in setting new benchmarks in the hospitality industry.”
Chef Vivek Saggar, General Secretary of Indian Culinary Forum said, “Culinary Art India has evolved from a competition venue to an educational platform for chefs to learn exchange and showcase their culinary skills and a formal judging as per international standards. This year saw close to 300 participants from not only NCR but from other northern, western & southern states as well. 14th CAI 2019 was bigger and better with introduction of newly added categories to encourage budding chefs and identification of many star chefs in the making who got more opportunities to compete and win.”
Top Award winners of 14th Culinary Art India:
1. 3 -tier Wedding Cake: Mohammed Afzal, Radisson Mbd, Noida – Gold
2. Artistic Pastry Showpiece: Indrapal Singh, The Oberoi – Silver
3. Artistic Bakery Showpiece: Mukkaram Nabi, Radisson Mbd, Noida – Gold
4. Fruit & Vegetable Carving: Rakshith A, Chennais Amirta IIHM, Bangalore – Silver; Jitender, The Ashok Hotel – Silver
5. Plated Appetisers: Nitesh, Le Meridien — Gold
6. Petit Four Or Pralines: Deepti D Arengh, Radisson Mbd Noida – Gold
7. 3 - Course Set Dinner Menu: Harish Prasad-Lemon Tree Hotel- Gold, Deepak- Le-Meridien- Gold With Distinction
8. Plated Desserts - Student Category- Nikhil Bhatia, IICA-Gold; Hrithik Ahuja - Indian Hotel Academy –Gold, Professional's Category- Mohit Kaintura- Double Tree By Hilton- Gold, Rishabh- Le Meridien- Gold With Distinction (Prize)
9. Authentic Indian Regional Cuisine: Lukesh Bajaj- Radisson Blu, Paschim Vihar — Gold (Prize)
10. Contemporary Sushi Platter: Alok Mishra- Trident, Gurgaon, Silver, Rudra Prasad Pradhan- The Claridges, New Delhi- Silver
11. Mocktails Competition: Kuber Chawla, Crown Plaza, Rohini- Gold; Dungar Singh-Radisson Mbd Noida, Gold, Pathikrit Sarkar- Ihm Pusa- Gold, Vaidehi Gupta- Ihm Pusa- Gold (Prize)
12. Live Cooking Competition (1 hour 30 minutes): Tulsi Magar- Country Inn and Suites, Sahibabad - Gold (Prize)
13. Live Cooking Competition (45 min RICE dish): Gaurav Maity-The Oberoi Gurgaon- Gold
14. Enthusiastic Hobby Cooks: Angad Singh Rana- IHM Pusa – Gold; Sonam Gupta - IICA- Gold, Chirag Gurmukhani - BCIHMCT- Gold
