Vying for the coveted title of IAM Future Chef Goa 2017-18, the top 10 super chefs made it to the final position after beating 20 semi-finalists from the 200 quarter-final round, selected from across over 25 higher secondary schools of Goa. The lucky champion Priya Singh from Fr Basilio Memorial Andrade Higher Secondary SchooL, Majorda won the coveted title

Goa’s trail-blazing culinary competition for schools– IAM Goa Future Chef-2017-18 – reached its climax with the felicitation programme of Top 10 students recently. The war of the culinary titans – ‘Super Chefs’ – began in November with great gusto with more than 800 students participating in the preliminary tasting round. Vying for the coveted title of IAM Future Chef Goa 2017-18, the top 10 super chefs made it to the final position after beating 20 semi-finalists from the 200 quarter-final round, selected from across over 25 higher secondary schools of Goa.

The award ceremony was presided by Dr Suborno Bose, Chairman and Chief Mentor of Indismart Group, Maitreyee Chaudhary, Director of IAM Group andShabnam Jana, Director of IAM Goa.

The 10 participants were awarded ‘finale certificates’ and Top 10 trophies apart from ‘participation certificates’ granted to all semi-finalist students for their great effort put in during the culinary event.

The lucky champion Priya Singh from Fr Basilio Memorial Andrade Higher Secondary School, Majorda won the coveted title and was awarded the IAM Future Chef trophy along with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh.

The first runner up, Antonio Felix Fernandes from Keshav Smruti Higher Secondary School, Dabolim was awarded a trophy and cash prize of Rs 50,000. The second runner up, Casta Pereira from Deepvihar Higher Secondary School, Sada, Vasco was awarded a trophy and cash prize of Rs 25,000; seven consolation winners were awarded a cash prize of Rs 5000. The special jury award for best starter was awarded to Ujvala Pawaskar from Fr Basilio Memorial Andrade Higher Secondary School and best dessert was awarded to Aniksha Borkar from AVMPS Higher Secondary School, Shiroda, and both won cash prizes of Rs 5,000 each. The event was supported by Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC).

IAM Future Chef Goa aspires to rekindle interest in cooking among the youth, ensuring the otherwise-dying traditional Indian recipes are not lost forever. The competition open to all higher secondary school students from across the state successfully ventured into its fifth year. The format has been designed to provide a platform to accommodate growing culinary talents and interest of the youth in the state, as well as to increase their awareness about the hospitality and culinary industry. “We aim to bring schools together on a common platform to foster the spirit of youth and revive authentic Indian cuisine seldom served today in restaurants,” readan official statement from IAM.

This article was first published on Herald Cafe on 22 JUN 2018