7th International Young Chefs Olympiad goes virtual

The seventh edition of the event will be held virtually this year due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic from January 31 to February 6.

New Delhi: The International Young Chef Olympiad (YCO) is back to celebrate the multicultural diversity of food from across the world, but this time in a virtual format. The seventh edition of the event will be held virtually this year due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic from January 31 to February 6.

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.

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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.

The five-day long competition, which is being organised by the International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) in partnership with the International Hospitality Council London, will see contestants undertake 2 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.

Talking about YCO 2021, Suborno Bose, the CEO of International Hospitality Council (IHC) and Founder YCO, said:”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. 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.”

The top 10 contestants as per the scores of the previous round will compete in the Grand Finale of YCO 2021 on February 4-5 split in two groups of five countries in each, across two days in different time zones to accommodate all.

Each participant will be recorded live in his or her own kitchen preparing and producing each of the 3 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, eight 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.

Padma Shri awardee Chef Sanjeev Kapoor will be the Principal Judge and Mentor for YCO 2021 while 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 Parvinder Bali (India), Chef Abhijit Saha (India) among others.