Cooking is not just a grown up’s art, even children can be impressive chefs, proved the third edition of Kochi Junior Super Chef. The little ones who assembled at the cookery camp held at cooking studio of Casino Hotel, Willingdon Island, vowed the crowd with their culinary skills.
“The participants were very impressive. Their knowledge and familiarity with cooking impressed judges. And, the best part of the contest is that this is the third season and many of the participants were repeaters which proves how entertaining and edifying the sessions were,” says Dominic Joseph, general manager, CGH Earth Group.
He adds that the main objective behind the camp was to make people aware of the need to identify and consume healthy food. “We really want to make people aware of the need for healthy food. There are healthy alternatives to transfat, maida etc. Most schools here don’t do that and this is very important because advertisements promoting junk foods are bombarding the children right from young age,” says Dominic Joseph.
He added that the other objective of the contest was to give children a perfect summer break. “Interacting with other children helps them develop interpersonal skill and food can be a perfect medium for that. Moreover, we wanted to develop in them a habit of cooking, which helps them become independent,” says the chef.
The sessions provided an introduction to cooking and baking, basics of food preparation, kitchen safety and proper use of gadgets and appliances. The participants were also given a chance to experience molecular gastronomy, a new style of cuisine where they explore new culinary possibilities and find how food tastes and behaves under different temperatures, pressures and other scientific conditions.
The children also got to try their hand at Pintxos (a small snack or a finger food, traditional in northern Spain), home-made ice creams of different flavours, Mughlai cuisine (Biryani) and pies and tarts.
“This time we didn’t include Kerala cuisine, only because we thought there are no better teachers than grandmothers and mothers to teach them the local cuisine,” says Dominic.
The culinary journey had other master chefs from the kitchens of CGH Earth leading the camp. At the end of the programme, participants went back as junior master chefs. There was also a contest for the title of ‘Eastern CGH Earth Kochi Jr Super Chef’ and a cook off for a gala dinner for the parents and friends of the participants. The three winners of Eastern CGH Earth Kochi Junior Super Chef are Johan George, Shuaib Harris and Anoushka Dominic. The winners of the best team went to Abhijith Selvam, Chloe Vayalat and Sana Gupta.