As a run up to the upcoming Organics Millets International Trade Fair 2018 (OMITF2019) scheduled for Jan 18th-20th, 2019, at the Bangalore Palace grounds, there are a series of related events that will take place at various locations.
The Smart Food Culinary challenge for Young Chefs, was one of these events that was held at the Faculty of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, M S Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences (MSRUAS), Bangalore on 5th December, 2018.
It was organized by the Department of Agriculture, Govt of Karnataka and Smart food Global, an initiative of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), which is an international organization which conducts agricultural research for rural development.
(Some of the text below is taken from the website of ICRISAT)
The Smart Food Culinary Challenge had 29 teams with student chefs from culinary institutes across India. They were competing to be the finalists to play-off for the grand finale to be held at the Organics and Millets International Trade Fair in Bengaluru 18-20 January 2019. From traditional to continental cuisine, the student chefs tested their culinary skills to compete to create a three-course meal in cooking millets and sorghum.
Ranging from first-year graduates to postgraduates, these young chefs were created three-course meals with three different millets.
An amazing number of innovative dishes ranging from traditional to Western to fusion, were prepared by the participants and the effort they put into their presentation was truly commendable. This event also showed that hundreds of dishes can be prepared using millets including western recipes.
At the Smart Food Culinary Challenge, the teams created over 80 dishes with at least 50% millet.
They were judged by an eminent panel comprising Chef Ramaswamy Selvaraju, Executive Chef, Vivanta by Taj, Bengaluru, Chef Vinod K Batti – Range and Commercial Manager, IKEA Food, India, Dr Anitha Seetha, Nutrition Scientist, ICRISAT, and Mrs Suchitra Muralidharan, celebrity Chef from Kannada cooking show Oggarane Dabbi (Spice Box).
The panel selected the top 7 teams based on the appropriate use of millets, accompaniments, taste, portion size, the degree of complexity and overall garnishing and presentation style. These teams will compete at the final round of the challenge which will be held at the ITF2019.
Overseeing the competition were officials Nandhini Kumari, Managing Director, Karnataka State Agricultural Produce, Processing and Export Corporation (KAPPEC) and Karnataka Micro-Irrigation Corporation (KAMIC) and Dr Govind R Kadambi, Pro Vice-Chancellor, MSRUAS.
The credit for the pictures on my blog post and Facebook album, go to Nikita Suresh.
For more pictures see My Facebook – Smartfood Culinary Challenge. Also catch me on My Twitter and My Instagram
Dec 5th, 2018
