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A SUGAR RUSH IN MILLENNIUM CITY
Women chefs across India competed for the pastry queen title in Gurgaon
In a tense kitchen area, five participants battled it out to make a perfect sugar sculpture and ring-shaped desserts.
To the onlookers the sight of final creations was one to behold, but for all this, the chefs had to really sweat it out at the second edition of Pastry Queen India, which was recently organised in Gurgaon.
Nail-biting moments were witnessed between the participating chefs — Reema Gupta, Radhika Kulkarni, Rumana Jaseel, Eureka Araujo and Riya Arora (during two days September 8 and 9 at the Academy of Pastry Arts in Gurgaon). They raced against time to abide by the theme of Astrology, to create sugar displays (including pastillage) and some quirky desserts in 18 hours.
“It has been a wonderful experience. This was just the start of my journey. I learnt how to professionally compete with people,” says Kulkarni, whose sub-theme of display was inspired by constellations. Jaseel, who depicted astrology of the medieval times through her edible displays, says, “It’s nice to see the field of pastry growing so much. There are lots of Indians now, who are getting into competitive level French pastry-making.”
The participants were judged by a panel of chefs that included — Parvinder Singh Bali, Avijit Ghosh, Manisha Bhasin, and Gordon Galea.
“Patience, passion and perseverance makes a pastry queen! It was a difficult decision for us to choose one person as the winner, as the participants represented different aspects of pastry-making. Apart from the theme and presentation of their cakes and desserts, contestants were also judged on the taste and texture. We marked the participating chefs on their hygiene and set-up,” says Chef Bali.