8th International Young Chef Olympiad from Jan 30

BENGALURU:
After the huge success of YCO 2021 on the virtual platform, YCO 2022 will once again capture the online platform with another exhilarating edition of the World’s Biggest Virtual Culinary Battle, the 8th International IIHM Young Chef Olympiad.

The competition will commence with a grand virtual opening ceremony on January 30th and will continue with a nail-biting competition till the closing ceremony on February 5th, 2022.

YCO 2022 promises to rekindle the spirit and excitement of this culinary extravaganza through the virtual platform. Organised by the International Hospitality Council, London in association with the International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM), the 8th edition of YCO is all set to be another grand event with more variety as over 40 countries will compete with each other from their respective geographical locations. Carrying an important theme of Global Goals, YCO 2022 attempts to promote the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals that aim to make the world a better place to live.

The top 10 finalists of the culinary competition will be vying for the coveted Best Young Chef title that will include prize money of $5,000 and a digital certificate. The next best ranking from 11 to 20, will compete for the Plate Trophy. The other category of awards include three Best Knife Skills in the Allocated time, Best Crème Caramel, Best Vegetarian Dish, three Best Hygiene and kitchen practice awards, six Ambassador Awards, six Mentor Awards, Best Use of Kitchen Cut Management Award, Spirit of Young Chef Olympiad International Award and International Diamond Research Award.

The Competition Schedule:
Calculating and co-coordinating all the time zones of the participants, all the countries have been divided into eight groups. The culinary competition will start with four groups of five participants competing in Round 1 of the event for the first two days.

Day 3 will be reserved for the International Diamond Research Award Symposium, A General Symposium with 8 Panel Discussions with speakers from around the World on various interesting topics and United World of the Young Chefs where each of the participating countries prepares their National Dish and shares the recipe as well for all online viewers followed by Q&A.

The results of the preliminary round and the qualifiers to the Plate Trophy and the Grand Finale will be announced on this day.

Day 4 and 5 will have the Plate Trophy and Grand Finale competitions for Groups 1 and 2 . The Closing Ceremony and Prize Distribution ceremony will be held on February 5th.

A strong Technical back-up:
Beside the culinary extravaganza, YCO 2022 will be an equally great technologically feat.

The participants will be cooking from their institute kitchens or their own homes after making ample arrangements in keeping with the competition rules and regulations. They will have to cook under the watchful eyes of four cameras placed at strategic angles so that their workstation is in clear view of the judges. The competition will be conducted through video conferencing.

All kitchens of the World have been connected through 4 Cameras each, to be viewed LIVE and monitored from the YCO control room across 24 Time zones and 7 days making this one of the most complex systems of web created to make this 8th Virtual International Young Chef Olympiad possible.

Along with this, every day YCO will also be broadcasting LIVE 27 Guest Expert Sessions from around the World for global student audiences.

The panel of judges has been split into teams of five with a nominated lead judge to coordinate the judging of each group and to gather and collate feedback on each competitor.

Separate breakout rooms for the judges and adjudicators have been designed so that they can discuss and review their marks and comments within themselves before declaring results.

This rather tedious task of setting up the technical backup for the competition has started almost three months before the competition as participants have to prepare the competition areas in their college kitchens and the Olympiad team has to review the same to avoid last minute glitches.

The Judging Process:
YCO 2022 will have a panel of distinguished experts from the culinary world as judges led by the Chairman of the Jury, Prof David Foskett MBE. Eminent chefs and personalities from the international culinary and hospitality industry including Sicilian Chef Enzo Oliveri, Michelin-star and founder of Kitchen Cut, Chef John Wood, Michelin star chef and co-founder of Galvin Restaurants Chris Galvin, Chef Stuart Littlejohn, Executive Chef of the prestigious Oxford and Cambridge Club, London, Chef Anton Edelmann, cookery writer and maitre chef des cuisines, Hotel Savoy, London, Chef Stefan Hogan, Executive Head Chef – Corinthian Palace Hotel, Malta, Chef David Graham, Chef Steven Carter and many other renowned personalities from the international culinary world will judge the competition on the virtual platform.

On the virtual platform, they will be able to judge the presentation, colour and cooking process. At the local level, participants will have to invite three judges who must be registered chefs, to judge the nutritional value and taste of the food being prepared. These marks will add up to the final marks.

The Principal judge and mentor Padma Shri Chef Sanjeev Kapoor will also be present in the judging rounds. Indian celebrity chefs like Chef Abhijit Saha and YCO Brand Ambassador, Chef Ranveer Brar will be present online to judge the competition at different levels.

The Awards:
Besides winning the title and other culinary awards, there are a number of other important awards that are given to the participants that reflect the essence and spirit of the Young Chef Olympiad.

These include the Ambassadors Award where all participants must write a 500-word statement about their ambitions of becoming a chef and how they wish to develop themselves as good chefs.

Kitchen Cut Chef Management Award – this award will go the participant who will have best recipe nutrition analysis and recipe costings. This will be marked by Chef John Wood.

International Diamond Research Award – YCO 2022 is joining the IIHM Global Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research in a new initiative this year. It has decided to extend research opportunities to culinary students and teachers in the field of global hospitality and tourism industry. Colleges and universities have been asked to submit a research paper of not more than 5000 words on the theme of YCO 2022, THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS. The International Diamond Research Award with a substantial cash prize will go to the best research paper.

Dr Suborno Bose, the Chairman of the YCO Global Council and CEO of IHC, said, “YCO 2022 is going to be another culinary and technological extravaganza for the world to see and experience. The competition is getting bigger and better each year and despite the constraints, we are successfully upholding the feeling of global brotherhood and camaraderie. This year we have notched up a step further in making the UN Sustainable Development Goals the theme of YCO 2022. Through this platform we are opening up research opportunities for students from all over the world to do research on this subject and bring out ideas that will help to achieve these SDGs.”