Local cooking contest offers Dh35k prize
Do you watch Masterchef and think, ‘I could do that’? Well, now you have the chance to throw your hat in the ring and show off your culinary skills to compete for an amazing prize in the UAE.
Dubai Knowledge Park and its business partner, the International Centre for Culinary Arts (ICCA Dubai), have launched a cooking and baking contest to fire up creative talent and identify Dubai’s finest in amateur gastronomy.
The Pasta & Pie Mystery Box Competition aims to separate the fusilli flops from the choux champions by challenging baking and cooking enthusiasts to prepare your best fresh pasta or dessert pie using secret ingredients from a mystery box during a live cook-off at the ICCA Dubai. The prize? Certified culinary courses in cookery and patisserie worth Dh35,000.
To enter, submit a nice photo of your favourite fresh pasta or dessert pie dish, along with the recipe and a summary, plus a selfie with the dish. The best submissions will be shortlisted and invited to take part in the live cooking and baking showdown on Saturday November 21, wherein each finalist will be given a mystery box of ingredients with three hours to prepare the best dish from scratch. A panel of Dubai Knowledge Park, ICCA Dubai and celebrity judges will select a winner and runner up for both categories.
Registration on https://iccadubai.ae/ closes on Saturday, November 7
“I made a travel montage of Dubai in 2017 and posted it on Facebook which received 35,000 views. This set the ball rolling for me. After this, I thought of creating a proper narrative film Flicker with the help of my school. I cast people from my class and a major part of the film was shot in my school — Gems Metropole, Dubai. This film was selected at the Lantern and Light International Children’s Film Festival in Melbourne and screened at Cameo Cinema,” adds Saimanish who has donned several hats as director, cinematographer and editor.
The young filmmaker grew up watching both Hollywood and Bollywood films and gradually felt drawn towards filmmaking.
“I was intrigued by the idea of how a film is made and all the dynamics surrounding it. Then the whole idea of watching it on a big screen seemed extremely appealing to me.”
“My mother who is a special needs educator has been extremely encouraging and she helps me in my projects as well. But what got me into filmmaking is my vlog. Unfortunately this led me to being bullied by some people. But this didn’t act as a deterrent, instead it made me more determined in what I wanted to pursue. I started with learning the use of professional softwares like Premiere Pro and acquired Khdaapproved certificates in editing. I also learnt immensely from Youtube,” said the young filmmaker.
His narrative short, Metanoia has won multiple awards at accredited events such as Calcutta International Cult Film Festival and the Indie Short Fest at the Los Angeles International Film festival.
“I always like to highlight social issues through my films and this particular one talks about the environment and how an individual can bring about the much required change, irrespective of whatever financial background one hails from. Parts of the film have been shot at the Kite Beach and Sheraton Grand Hotel in Dubai. This film went to different countries and helped me clinch awards in places like New