HOSSAM SOLIMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE EGYPTIAN CHEFS ASSOCIATION

What is your main objective as president?

I will continue to further develop the ever-growing Association to provide its members with better services, especially with a special focus on the development of young chefs. It is my privilege to be able to give the new young chefs from all walks of life the opportunity to learn from dedicated professional chefs, in an environment that encourages excellence with unparalleled facilities and with the focus on their ability to do great things in the foodservice and hospitality industry. Other objectives also involve improving the culinary standards of the Association’s chef members, as well as to promote an exchange of knowledge on both national and international levels.

What projects do you have in mind?

We would like to establish an educational institute for amateur and professional chefs. ECA will also establish its own training center and certification modules. We will also work on establishing basic culinary skills training, related to a threemonth ECA Certification.

What is your take on Egyptian cuisine?

We have special flavors that will enable us to compete well. We still do not have the mandatory standards that ensure we maintain the level of quality we are capable of offering, and our difficult role is to initiate a plan to maintain the consistency of the advanced level, which Egyptian chefs are capable of. This way we will guarantee the best service of Egyptian cuisine and maintain its reputation.

The most challenging time during your career was?

When I was nominated to be the captain of the Egyptian National Team to represent Egypt at the Olympics competition. The second challenging time was taking responsibility for training Egypt’s Junior Chef Team when Egypt won the African Culinary Cup. But the most challenging time was when I was elected to be the president of the Egyptian Chefs Association. It is a difficult responsibility.

With 33 years of experience as a chef, out of which 30 were spent within the IHG, chef is the new president of the Egyptian Chefs Association.

Your preferred non-egyptian dishes are?

Japanese sushi, Thai soups, Turkish kofta, Italian tiramisu.