Shubhashree College of Management organized a culinary extravaganza, “Young Chef Cook-Off,” which took place on June 19, 2024 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM at Shubhashree College of Management in New-Baneshwor.
The event, spearheaded by 5th-semester students of Shubhashree College, aimed to celebrate the innovation and creativity of young chefs while addressing the dynamic shifts in the food industry and consumer demands. The objective of organizing a “Young Chef Cook-Off” is to provide a platform for aspiring culinary artists to showcase their skills and passion for the culinary arts. Events manager Sajan Baskota and Events Coordinator Sudarshan Pandey reinforced the program with proper administration and communication.
The format of the competition was structured in such a way which featured 24 participants (8 Groups) competing in a series of culinary challenges designed to test their skills and creativity. The competitive group were a profound team of BBA and BHM students. 4 groups from BBA participated along with 4 groups from BHM and each group consisted of 3 members.
The competition was structured to go for 3 rounds with unknown ingredients and which required immediate and instant planning and thus the cook-off was structured to be “Black Box Challenge”. Since no ingredients were pre-informed to participants there left no room for advantage or biasness for catering background participants.
Initial/First round kicked off with whole 8 teams as soon as Judges and the organizing committee familiarized participants with the structure of the program. First round was mainly focused on veg item preparation major focus on potato where 4 teams delivered quite interesting dished while the other 4 with less score were eliminated.
Second or semi final round kick started after the first-round judgement and for that particular round another set of unknown ingredients were given to the participants along with 1 unusual ingredient and for that round Tamarind was the one particular ingredient which could have change the outcome. 2 teams were eliminated during this round and for finale 2 teams were narrowed down from 4.1 team of BBA were facing another team of BHM.
Finale kick started with 2 teams and for the finale participants were asked to deliver their signature dish. The pantry was open for the participants to select ingredients of their choice and the quanity required. BBA finale team consisting of participants (Asmita Sahi Thakuri, Gyanendra Bahadur Saud and Ashim Dhakal) delivered fish based item along with several mouth watering side dishes mostly based on frying method of cooking. While the BHM team (Asmin Khadka, Ashik Poudel and Manish Karki) also used fish as base commodity and several other side dishes. The judges Mr. Pradeep Pokhrel and Mr. Subodh Subedi (BHM Coordinator) scored the dishes despite being the tough competition declaring team of BHM (Asmin, Ashik and Manish) as they delivered variety and efficiency covering taste.
Overall, the event was a grand success as it brought together both BBA (non-culinary background) and BHM (culinary background) on the same platform keeping differences aside and delivered fantastic dished. The participants, runner-up and winners were awarded on the valuable presence of Ms. Manita Oli (Head of Institution).
