PESHAWAR, Mar 16 (APP):Four-day cooking competitions kicked off at the spacious lawn of the Peshawar Services Club on Tuesday with great enthusiasm witnessed among all the participants.
Organized by the Directorate of Youth Affairs under the aegis of Sports, Tourism, Archaeology, Culture, Museums and Youth Affairs Department, the initiative is aimed at providing a platform to the cooking talents to exhibit their skills and improve the hospitality sector in the province.
On the first day, over 65 male and female contestants from Peshawar, Swat, Malakand, Chitral, Abbottabad, Battagram, Orakzai, Khyber Mardan, Kohat, Charssadda districts and other parts of the province participated in the cooking competitions.
During the initial contests from March 16 to 17, top 20 chefs will be picked up from the lot, who will then take part in another contest to be held on March 18 to select the top five cooking experts from them.
The final will be held on March 19, which will be followed by a delightful music program as well.
The online registration of professional and amateur chefs between 14-29 years age has already been completed and now the contestants are participating in making various dishes and dines.
Talking to media, Director General Youth Affairs, Salim Jan Marwat said that the activity was meant to provide an opportunity to the youth to exhibit their cooking skills and come forward to further excel in this field and promote the hospitality sector in the province as well.
He said that the excelling chefs would be awarded commendation certificates and prizes besides arranging more such events to encourage them.
He said all arrangements have been made as Cooking competitions of this type aren’t just a way to pass the time in fact a lot of chefs register their trainees for them to help them gather more experience.
Trainee chefs are often only responsible for a few individual components of a dish, but competitions force them to prepare an entire multi-course menu, which they also have to plan and organize on their own, Saleem Jan Marwat added.
He said competitions are time-limited – every aspect of meal planning and preparation has to be finished within a specified period.
About the aim and objective of the competition, he said, it is a good opportunity for participants to exhibit their knowledge and skill when preparing and presenting a dish besides learning from other team members and other competitors.
“We want to enhance the leadership quality of our youth and for this competition in any sector play a key role in shaping up once personality,” he informed.
He said with the Cooking competition, we would be able to find out some of the best young cooks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular and in Pakistan in general.
The aim or intention of cooking competition is to see that the food cooked undergoes a physical, at times chemical changes and that the result is edible and acceptable, and it also helps to digest the food, he opined.