The nine Abuja-based culinary schools which competed at the 2023 NIHOTOUR Culinary Schools’ Cooking Competition from May 8-12, in Abuja, including; the Red Dish Chronicles Culinary School; Abuja Culinary School; Owande Catering School; Chef’s Academy; Masterminds Catering & Culinary School; Godmario Centre for Culinary Art; Pristine Culinary & Catering School; Topkraft Culinary Academy; and Glory International School
2023 NIHOTOUR Culinary Schools’ Cooking Competition unveils winners
[By VICTOR NZE]
National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) has winners of the second edition of its Culinary Schools’ Cooking Competition.
The cooking competition, organised annually to herald the NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival is also an aspect of the Gastronomy Festival introduced in 2022, one of the signature events of food exhibition.
The 2023 NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival holds at the prestigious Abuja International Conference Centre, in Abuja, June 17.
The five-day NIHOTOUR Cooking Competition which held from Monday, May 8 through to Friday, 12, in Abuja, featured nine Abuja-based culinary schools competing for the usual top three positions including; the Red Dish Chronicles Culinary School; Abuja Culinary School; Owande Catering School; Chef’s Academy; Masterminds Catering & Culinary School; Godmario Centre for Culinary Art; Pristine Culinary & Catering School; Topkraft Culinary Academy; and Glory International School.
Each culinary school was represented by two student chefs who displayed their culinary skills in diverse gastronomic areas such as table d’hote menu, misen-place, knife handling skills, preparation, production, and presentation.
At the end of the 5-day marathon cooking competition, Red Dish Chronicles Culinary School came tops, Masterminds Catering & Culinary School followed in second place, and Chefs Academy -third.
Traditionally, these top-three winners will be given some mouth-watering prizes during the Gala Night of the NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival at International Conference Centre Abuja on the 17th of June. Award prizes including; large-scale kitchen equipment, paid foreign trips, and fully funded culinary development training courses, among others.
In arriving at the selection of the original nine participating culinary schools and eventual top-three winning culinary schools, the Competition Technical Planning Committee considered and ensured, among other things, that only bonafide students of the participating culinary school compete, not their instructors or technicians; and also that the schools have befitting kitchen, with necessary equipment, capable of hosting the cooking competition for the contestants – since the assessment will be carried out in the contestants’ culinary schools.
The 2023 NIHOTOUR Cooking Competition Technical Planning Committee comprises representatives of NIHOTOUR Hospitality Studies Department, representatives of Association of Professional Chefs of Nigeria (APCN) and two experts from Hospitality private sectors, who served as the Panel of Judges, namely Chef Bitrus Maiwayo and Chef SamirahAjayi.
It would be recalled that NIHOTOUR had earlier fixed dates and venue of this year’s Gastronomy Festival as June 16 and 17, 2023, billed for the Abuja International Conference Centre.
This year’s Gastronomy Festival is the third consecutive food and beverage exhibition and sampling event, initiated and annually organized by NIHOTOUR, since 2021.
The theme for this year’s festival is “Culinary Arts: The Gate Way to Growing Tourism Destination”.
NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival is conceptualised and programmed to upskill Nigerian gastronomes and culinary artists on the technicalities, and emerging global best practises, of processing, preparing, presenting, packaging and promotion of foods, especially Nigerian traditional cuisines. Understandably, NIHOTOUR’s objective of investing in such mega Gastronomy Festival is, among other things, to improve the expertise of personnel in the industry, especially those in the eatery, restaurants, and hotels sub-sectors, across tourist destinations in Nigeria.
NIHOTOUR is a parastatal established by an Act of Parliament to train, certify and register personnel in the country’s hospitality, travel, and tourism sector.
