The Great Indian Culinary Challenge (GICC) concluded recently on Thursday, 30th of January, 2020. The programme, an initiative by Express Food and Hospitality, was inaugurated by Mr. Vivek Pathak, Managing Director, NIPS Hospitality Group; Chef Michael Swamy – a food stylist, writer, restaurateur, food photographer; Chef Gautam Chaudhry, a pioneer of the trend of Progressive Indian Cuisine; Mr. Nisheeth Srivastava, Principal, Institute of Hotel Management Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition, Kolkata; Mr. Michael Hawkins from country partner Canada; to name a few. The competition witnessed more than 100 budding culinary enthusiasts and professionals battling it out to be crowned as the winners.
The two tiered competition – one for hospitality management college students, and the other for professionals, live cooking in International and Regional cuisine categories, provided with a platform to showcase their skills and to gain and share knowledge. The participants, representing reputed hotels like ITC, Vivanta by Taj, Howard Johnson, Abcos Restaurants, Lalit Great Eastern, Chai Break; and institutions, whisked their best creations and left the judges spellbound. The esteemed panel of judges consisted of eminent personalities of the culinary world, including Chef Michael Swamy, Chef Gautam Chaudhry, Chef Yuvika, Doma Wang and Kaniska Chakraborty; and assisted by Celebrity Chef Joseph Uttam Gomes, Deputy Director and Chef Moumita Bhaumik, Chef Cuisiner de Sp’ecialite. The event comprising the competition, also had an array of events like Master classes,Workshops on Food Media, Food Styling & Photography, Culinary Artistry and so on. The participants and guests had the opportunity of learning from the stalwarts of the industry, including from, Chef Yuvika, Doma Wang and Kaniska Chakraborty.
The event wrapped up with the Award Ceremony, where the participants were marked on various parameters. The competition saw the passion of the chefs which transpired into their marvellous creations on the plates. It was raining awards for NIPS Hotel Management, Kolkata, the venue partner of the event. NIPS bagged three prizes across the two categories for students- Live Cooking, International and Regional Cuisine. The students of NIPS edged past other colleges and Ushasi Roy Choudhury and Bharti Kumari bagged Silver for “Chicks Island; and Once in a Blue Moon”(Regional) and “Crispy Chicken Tortilla; and Blueberry Parfait” (International)respectively. Kushal Halder won Bronze for “Herbs crushed lamb rack coated with Harrison sauce; and Macha green tea and blueberry mousse”in the International category.
The event inspired other young chefs to embark on such a unique opportunity and provided with an exposure to other chefs in different realms across the culinary domain.