31/07/2014 …. Goa Tourism Development Corporation felicitated the participants of Goa’s first Chota Celebrity Chef Contest held on July 29th at Miramar Residency, Miramar Goa. The month-long event which began in May was organized by BizConsul Pvt. Ltd. Guests present for the function were Chef Raman, Sanjay V. P. Chodnekar – General Manager-Marketing GTDC, Gavin Dias, Dy. General Manager-Marketing and Deepak Narvekar, Public Relations Officer GTDC.
Mr. Sanjay Chonekar, GM GTDC, said, “We are delighted to support this initiative which promotes cuisine and Helps to inculcate our culture amongst youngsters.”
Chota Celebrity Chef in Goa is a first of its kind contest and has attracted a lot of young talent across Goa. Contestants were tested for their culinary skills. They comprised of children between the ages of 6-16 years. The contest was held in two groups – 6 to 10 years and 11 to 16 years. Each child had the opportunity to present their own recipes to the panel of judges.
There were three elimination rounds. The first was the fast food round which required the participants to make a quick snack that is both delicious and healthy. The second was the dessert round which required participants to prepare a dessert and plate it attractively. The meal round required the semi finalists to prepare a wholesome meal. The points were given on the basis of number of components/dishes, the apt combination and the presentation.
The Finale was exciting and challenging. All the finalists were given the same recipe with detailed instructions. The finalists got to pick the ingredients and cook the dish as per the instructions. The finalist who stirred up the best dish was adjudged the Chota Celebrity Chef winner.
The finals were held at Caculo mall on June 1, 2014. The participants were asked to prepare a pizza dressing with a host of ingredients given to them. Points were given for presentation and wastage was also considered. The winners of the contest were Siddal Leitao in the junior category and Ms. Raemaraan Shaikh in the senior category.
Apart from competition, all the participants got to attend a series of Celebrity Chef classes which gave them a learning experience from the Nutritive and Medicinal properties of everyday food and ingredients, how to buy fresh/ripe ingredients, the various uses of a single ingredient, usage of modern appliances in residential kitchens, experience of 5Star hotel cooking, etc. This made this contest a fun and unique learning experience for the participants and their parents.
