Unilever food solutions Chef of Year contest heats up; Gulf chefs in fray

Unilever Food Solutions [UFS], a leading worldwide brand in the food service industry with presence in over 74 countries, today announced that the regional round of its world-renowned Chef of the Year Competition for 2012 will be held in Dubai on 2^nd June 2012.

Eight 5-star chefs representing top hotels in the region will vie for the top honors at the UFS Chef of the Year regional competition, to be held at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management. Contestants at the competition, to be held between 8am and 3pm, include five chefs from UAE, and one each from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.

A seven-member jury, representing top culinary experts from renowned hotels in the Gulf and Middle East, will adjudicate the competition. The judges include Chef Sacha Triemer – Executive Chef at Atlantis Palm, Chef Joachim Textor – Executive Chef at Media Rotana, Chef Mark Patten – vice President Culinary Atlantis among others.

Announcing the regional round, Mr Eelco Camminga, Unilever Food Solutions’ Vice President for South Africa, Middle East, and Pakistan, said: “Like every year, we are extremely proud to announce the UFS Chef of the Year competition. Needless to say, for us, the competition is about pushing the boundaries of creativity, imagination and skills; about uniting behind our talented chefs and going to great lengths to provide them with solutions and inspiration for use in their own kitchens every day.”

As part of the regional competition, each contestant will be required to cook a starter, a main course as well as a dessert. All courses need to serve three people. Besides this, each competing chef will be given a mystery basket to try out their culinary skills using UFS products.

The contestants will be judged on number of UFS products used, innovation of UFS products, originality of recipes, difficulty and skill required for fusion of flavours, portion obedience, presentation, method and techniques. “We are happy to provide the world-class chefs from the Gulf states a unique platform to showcase their skills in the culinary world,” added Mr Camminga.

The competition winner will walk away with a trophy, certificate, with his/ her recipe published in the UFS Recipe Book, plus the coveted chance to participate in the UFS Chef of the Year Final Round, to be held in South Africa in September 2012.