New Delhi [India], January 27 (ANI/PRNewswire): The world's biggest Olympiad for culinary students - the IIHM International Young Chef Olympiad (YCO) - is back with a bang to celebrate the multicultural diversity of food from across the world.
The seventh edition of the event will be held virtually this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic from January 31st to February 6th. YCO 2021 will witness participation of student chefs from 50 countries, including Spain, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Thailand, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, Sweden, among others.
Adopting the theme of 'Forward Together', the competition will unite the young talents of the culinary world to champion this virtual culinary battle through their positive action.
Opening Ceremony is scheduled on Sunday January 31, 06:30 PM India Time or 1 PM GMT and can be viewed at
During the five-day long intense competition, which is being organized by the International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) in partnership with the International Hospitality Council London, the contestants will undertake two rounds of culinary challenges in their quest to win the coveted YCO 2021 Champion Trophy, a cash prize of USD 10,000 and a validation of their skills by globally renowned experts from the food and hospitality industry.
"The COVID-19 Pandemic and an era of social distancing has not deterred our spirit to take the International Young Chef Olympiad to the next level. With 50 countries coming together virtually to celebrate the diversity of food from across the borders, YCO 2021 is not just the biggest culinary competition in the world but also a global platform fostering the spirit of youth, friendship, diversity and inclusiveness," said Dr Suborno Bose, the CEO of International Hospitality Council (IHC) and Founder YCO about YCO 2021
"Moreover, it brings all the young and talented future stars of the international culinary scene on a single platform where they connect with each other and share insights out of their experiences," he added.
YCO 2021 will commence on January 31st with a grand opening ceremony and the competition rounds will start from February 1st on Zoom video conferencing.
The top ten contestants as per the scores of the previous round will compete in the Grand Finale of YCO 2021 on February 4th and 5th split in two groups of five countries in each, across two days in different time zones to accommodate all.
The Plate Trophy will also be held on the February 4th and 5th wherein the contestants holding positions 11 to 20 in the first round will compete. The Olympiad will conclude on February 6th with a closing ceremony, where the YCO 2021 Champion, runners-up and other awardees will be announced.
This year, the participants will be competing for awards such as 'Rising Star', 'Best Vegetarian Dish', 'Best Hygiene and Kitchen Practice', 'Best Chicken Saute Dish', 'Ambassador Award', 'Mentor Award', 'Sustainability Award', 'Best Use of Kitchen Cut' and 'Best Afternoon Tea Profiteroles'.
This year as the Olympiad is happening online, each participant will be recorded live in his or her own kitchen preparing and producing each of the three dishes within the prescribed time and a team of judges will be able to view the work of each participant throughout the entire competition period.
Due to the time zones, competing countries will be divided into groups according to their local time's close proximity. Separate virtual competition rooms will be created for each group of judges allowing for the judges to interact throughout the full period of the competition, to discuss each competitor and to mark accordingly.
In the competition's first round, the contestants will be required to prepare three dishes - four portions of a Chicken cut for saute with a garnish and sauce, 8 chocolate eclairs suitable for a luxury afternoon tea and four portions of a Vegetarian dish using the mentioned ingredients in two and a half hours.
The contestants will be judged on their basic skills, nutrition, health and safety, taste and creativity in this round.
The Grand Finale and Plate Trophy Finals of YCO 2021 will test the contestant's creativity, innovation, cooking skills and professional good practice in a time bound environment.
For the grand finale, the contestants will be given two and a half hours for preparing 2 litres of chicken stock into a consomme with a garnish and Gateau St Honore for ten persons using a sweet pastry as the base and choux pastry filled with a creme chiboust.
For the Plate Trophy Finals, the contestants will be required to prepare the same Gateau St Honore for tenpersons, but in two hours.
Padma Shri Chef Sanjeev Kapoor will be the Principal Judge and Mentor for YCO 2021 while Prof David Foskett (MBE) will be the Chairman of the Jury.
The panel of judges will include internationally acclaimed judges and celebrity chefs including Chef Brian Turner, the President of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, Chef Andreas Muller from Hong Kong, Chef Chris Galvin (UK), Chef John Wood (UK), Chef Stuart Littlejohn (UK), Chef Henry Brosi (UK), Chef Andy Varma (UK), Chef Stefan Hogan (Malta), Chef Garth Stroebel (South Africa), Chef Enzo Oliveri (Italy), Chef Ranveer Brar (India), Chef Parvinder Bali (India), Chef Abhijit Saha (India) and many more.
The judges will evaluate the contestants on their ability to efficiently manage a food production area keeping in mind factors like health and safety, good hygiene practice, ability to follow a recipe, culinary skills, creativity, etc.
Showcasing the multicultural culinary diversity of different countries, YCO 2021 will also bring together the student chefs and chef mentors for the 'United World of Young Chefs'.
This event will be held on February 3rd and it will provide a great opportunity for the 50 participating countries to present their national cuisine to a global culinary audience.
Launched in the year 2015, YCO aims to give young student chefs from around the world a platform to showcase their skills and compete at the global level.
Through the last six editions of the Olympiad, the world has seen culinary stars being born and dreams being celebrated on the global culinary stage.
The winners of the past editions of YCO were Ashwin Nicholas Oon from Malaysia (2015), Daniella Germond from Canada (2016), Tham Jiajun Mathew from Singapore (2017), Lai Jia Yi from Malaysia (2018), Cyrene Randrianasolo from France (2019) and Chen Khai Loong from Malaysia (2020).
Young Chef Olympiad website -
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