SICA Culinary Challenge was held in Chennai on the 15/16/17 September 2023.

The 6th edition of SICA Culinary Challenge was held in Chennai on the 15/16/17 September 2023. This was the First WACS endorsed competition of India.

The culinary challenge witnessed a massive 1400 entries in 30+ categories from all over the country and abroad. 

The initiative was taken by the SICA board members, The President of SICA Dr. Chef Damodaran.K, General Secretary- Chef Sheetharam Prasad, Corporate Executive Chef, GRT Hotels & Resorts, Joint Secretary- Chef Umasankar Dhanapal, Market Training Manager-South, Sapphire Foods India Pvt.Ltd,   Treasurer - Chef Mohana Krishnan AK, General Manager-Food-R&D, The Savera, Joint Treasurer - Chef Vijayakumar. V, F& B Director, Radisson Blu Resort Temple Bay Mamallapuram, Advisory Council-Chef Elango Rajendran, General Manager, Grand by GRT Hotels,  Vice President (Tamilnadu)  Mr. Bennet Director, VRM Institute of Hotel & Catering Science Vice President (Karnataka) Chef Kasi Viswanathan F&B Director, Radisson Blu Bengaluru Atria Point, Vice President (Kerala) Chef Ramu Butler Chef and Restaurateur, Baywatch Suits, Vice President (Telangana) Chef Sudhakar N Rao, Director/ Principal, Culinary Academy of India, Vice President(Andhra Pradesh) Chef Thirulogachander.M, Principal, Indian Culinary Institute.

The jury members were invited WACS Certified judges from around the globe and included Chef Thomas A. Gugler-  President of World Chefs, from Saudi Arabia, Dr.Chef Manjit Singh Gill – President IFCA,  Chef Gerard Mendis from Srilanka, Chef Mooroogun Cooper from Mauritius, Chef Dimuthu Kumara Singhe from Srilanka, Chef Daniel Schade, President Association of Chefs, from Germany, Chef MadhawaWeerabaddhana from Srilanka, Chef Happy K from Australia, Chef Abdulla Soba from Maldives, Chef Baranidharan P- Jury Moderator from India, Chef Tilak Senaratne, AHCIMA from Srilanka, Chef Fatimath Umar from Maldives, Chef Mariyam Shiuna from Maldives, Chef Shaanee from Maldives, Chef Mahendran Sats from Singapore, Chef John Sloane, Assistant Senior Vice President, F&B operations and Culinary Galaxy Macau from Newzeland, Chef Rohan from Srilanka, Chef S.R Balasundram Pillai from Singapore.

The team of International judges were also supported with a lot of Indian chefs who were also WACS Certified from various states of India.Chef Vijaya Bhaskaran, Secretary IFCA, Chef Himanshu Sahoo, Chef Siddiq, Chef George K George, Chef Mark Crocker, Chef  Suresh Kanna, Chef Akshay Kulkarni, Chef Joseph Paul and many more.

It was a great learning from the feedbacks and reviews of the judges, as they also gave the glimpse of the international judging and the standards of the internationally held competitions. The purpose of this competition is to make ready India as a country for competing in the upcoming World Culinary Olympics.

BRAND CAI participated in 19 categories both in the Professional and Student category. The preparation started 10 days back with days and nights of hard work with lots of trials & errors to get the perfect product for the competition. The journey was tough, travelled 700 kilometres to participate in the culinary challenge

The team brought a lot of medals in various categories such as Artisan breads, chocolate showpiece, Indian regional cooking, petit fours, table layout, Asian cooking and many more. Brand CAI was even the education partner for the event and as part of ensuring that its students learn from this competition all the first year students were taken to the World Trade Centre Chennai for witnessing and interacting with the various competitors and judges.

Following are the list of medals Brand CAI won at the competition:

Gold:

* Chef ArghyaBasu – Chef Instructor -Western cooking live

* Pabba Nilesh – Student (ADCA) -Indian regional cuisine display

* Pabba Nilesh Adjudged as the Best Young South Indian Chef

Silver:

*Prapunj Sharma Final year student BCTCA - Practical Asian cooking

* Ishitha Sengupta Final year BCTCA - Artistic pastry showpiece

* Munigiridhar PGDCA - Fruit carving

*Atharv Ranjan Final Year BCT&CA - Table cover layout

Bronze:

* Chef Tushar Gupta – Chef Instructor - Petit fours and pralines

* Chef Kranthi Kiran- Chef Instructor - Artistic pastry showpiece

* Chef Kiran Kumar – Chef Instructor - Butter/ margarine sculpture

* Chef Shubham Sharma – Chef Instructor - Live innovative Paratha

* Saran – Final Year BCT&CA - Artistic Bakery showpiece

* Chitti Babu – Student (DPCB)- Live Cake Making

Merit:

*Chef Ananda Shankar Chatterjee - Chef Instructor - Artistic pastry showpiece

* Chef Kiran Kumar – Chef Instructor - Live innovative Biryani

BRAND CAI's consistent ability to seize opportunities and showcase its value is truly remarkable.