Professional Chefs and Barista to showcase local culinary talent

The competitions will be held at the 12th edition of Food & Hospitality Oman exhibition from October 16-18, at the new Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre

MUSCAT: The 8th Professional Chefs Competition and the 5th Oman Barista Competition will once again celebrate and showcase the best of local culinary talent and skill at the 12th edition of Food & Hospitality Oman exhibition from October 16-18, new Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Oman’s biggest exhibitions and conferences organiser Omanexpo has associated with Oman Chefs Guild (OCG) to host the traditional Professional Chefs Competition, Oman’s first-ever culinary competition launched in 2009.

OCG is a non-profit organisation aimed at improving the quality and standards of members of the culinary profession locally and internationally.

The competition will put more than 50 of the country’s best professional chefs from 4 and 5-star hotels, restaurants, catering companies and bakeries, to a test of skill, technique and style in five categories: Three-Tier Wedding Cake, Tapas, Petit Fours, Live Cooking Mystery Box, and FiveCourse Gourmet Dinner.

During the 2016 edition of Food & Hospitality Oman, Chef Pascal Etienne, president, Oman Chefs Guild, commented, “Competition is an important part of education. OGC together with Omanexpo is proud to have built a reputation for hosting the industry’s culinary event. The competition rules and judging culture are based on World Chef Association and American Culinary Federation standards.”

Concurrent to the Professional Chefs Competition is the Oman Barista Competition, the first coffee competition of its kind in Oman, which will feature the finest baristas in the Sultanate.

Participants will be presenting visitors and coffee enthusiasts with their most innovative concoctions amid a backdrop of world-class coffee machines and equipment, coffee ingredients, and varieties and blends of coffee beans in a creativity and skill-based match of three categories: two types of standard coffee beverage and a signature beverage. The activity will culminate in the preparation and presentation of the freestyle signature beverage to a select jury of local and international coffee experts.

Ammar Ahmad, exhibition director, Food & Hospitality Oman, said, “We are always pleased to simultaneously offer our participants and visitors a platform which will bring to fore the best of local culinary talent and create educational opportunities for food and beverage enthusiasts and aspiring cooks and chefs. These competitions as well provide an avenue for food and coffee producers, manufacturers, distributors, importers and retailers to seek and access business opportunities.

To date, the show boasts of a supporter and sponsor lineup that includes the Omani Products, Riyada, Unilever Food Solutions, Renaissance Services Group, and Oman Foodstuff Factory and Sweets of Oman.

The increasing food demand and consumption resulting from a rising population alongside increased spending capacity and entry of coffee franchise outlets, retail stores and hypermarket chains are contributing to the rapid growth of the industry. This augurs well for the food, retail and franchise, and hospitality markets.