The Egyptian Chefs Association (ECA) celebrated their 10th anniversary by hosting hosting their annual National Salon Culinaire, a cooking competition at the Intercontinental City Stars Hotel on Monday, July 24.
All 178 entries were from Egyptian chefs from kitchens all around the country. They competed in 14 different categories for bronze, silver and gold medals. To win a medal, the dish had to gain a certain amount of points.
The highest recognition was the ECA culinary trophy for 2007, which went to the Hilton Fayrouz Sharm El-Sheikh kitchen.
Markus Iten, the founder and director of the ECA, who was also a judge at the competition said, “In the winning dishes, I am looking for sexiness. It must be clean, you must enjoy it when you taste it and you have to want it.
“The competitions do not just act to see who is better, but are also a medium and forum for chefs to share ideas and learn from the award winning dishes, said Iten. “Every event has been getting bigger, the first one 10 years ago had only 45 entries and now there were 178, noted Iten.
One of the judges, Thomas Gugler, coach of the National Culinary Team Germany, commented that the “standard of cuisine foods in Egypt has improved over recent years by 40 to 50 percent. To reach an international level, the entire industry needs to take a step up, not just the top chefs who are already good.
As for the fine cuisine industry, “Egypt is still an infant, similar competitions in Europe can have around 5,000 entries, said Gugler.
Overall, 43 bronze, 12 silver and 2 gold medals were awarded. The gold medalists were Ashraf Abdel Hamid from the Hilton Fayrouz Sharm El-Sheikh and Walid Rawash from the Intercontinental City Stars.
Special awards included Best Junior Chef, Mohamed Hussein Mohamed from the Semiramis Intercontinental, Best Senior Chef, Walid Rawash from the Intercontinental City Stars and for the highest amount of points Mohamed Hassan from the Conrad International Cairo.
All pieces throughout different genres were judged according to various criteria regarding presentation, not taste.
The panel of seven judges included four experts from abroad: Gugler, who is also the head chef for Saudi Arabian Airlines, Ronnie Caruana, pastry chef National Culinary Team Malta, Martin Kobald, president of the South African Chefs Association and Maroun Chedid, head of Culinary Art Education at Saint Joseph University.
Iten pointed out that the “cuisine industry in Egypt has not enforced certain standards regarding the healthiness of foods when it comes to sugar, salt, fat and flour. He also highlighted the importance of improving the cuisine industry in Egypt as the demand for international standards of cuisine is high because of tourism.
Egypt has tried to improve its culinary image internationally by taking part in the Culinary Olympics in 2004 in Erfurt, Germany, where it placed 18th out of 24 competing nations.
The ECA hosts other competitions throughout the year around Egypt in both Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada. These events attract between 80 and 90 entries due to the number of hotels at these tourist hotspots.
In addition to hosting competitions the ECA plays a role in improving Egyptian cuisine by offering intensive courses. “It is my dream to open a culinary school here where upcoming Chefs can achieve internationally certified degrees. Proper training requires three years, not just some courses, said Iten.
Iten noted one of the major limitations for chefs in Egypt to be their lack of basic training. “They are missing the base. Chefs in restaurants learn from their predecessors through apprenticeships, and do not learn the new tricks of the trade.
Iten continued, “One of the reasons I started the ECA was to give Egyptian chefs the opportunity to have questions answered correctly. “Cuisine is like fashion, you need to stay in touch. For instance, nowadays kiwi is out and pomegranate seeds are in. Chefs also must have knowledge of the chemistry of different foods so as to know what complements what, said Iten.
