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The air at the hotel’s Atrium where the competition was held was filled with the aroma of delicious food as a team of talented and inspired chefs put waste to good use for a palatable gourmet experience.
The Cinnamon Grand’s ‘Delicious Waste Chefs’ Competition 2013,’ the first-of-its-kind to be held in Sri Lanka, took place recently to encourage those in the kitchen to think out-of-the-box when putting together scrumptious dishes.
The Delicious Waste Chefs’ Competition saw 41 Chefs, in senior and junior categories, create 70 mouthwatering dishes under five segments: ‘Breakfast,’ ‘Lunch,’ ‘Dinner,’ ‘Desserts’ and ‘Snacks’.
While the ‘Dessert’ segment had the highest number of entries with 21 dishes, 16 dishes were made under the ‘Breakfast’ segment, 15 for ‘Dinner,’ and nine each for the ‘Snacks’ and’ Lunch’ segment.
Featuring top personalities in the field of culinary art as judges, the panel included celebrity Chef Hemalallindre Ranawake (better known as Koluu), internationally acclaimed ‘Queen of Curries’ Felicia Sorensen, renowned Travel Writer Savithri Rodrigo and Cinnamon Grand General Manager Rohan Karr.
Conducted in six rounds, the chefs were given 30 minutes to prepare their dishes live for the judges using discarded food items as the main ingredients.
After over five hours of intense competition, the judges picked top three dishes under each segment where the winners were awarded medals, certificates and cash prices.
"Anyone can create a dish with discarded food, but the challenge is in making a palatable dish out of such ingredients – Chef Hemalallindre Ranawake (Koluu) This competition gives our chefs an opportunity to utilise their culinary skills in a creative and sustainable manner – Cinnamon Grand General Manager Rohan Karr"
The chefs certainly took up the challenge on being creative with waste food since the competition saw unusual ingredients that one wouldn’t dare to use when cooking. Omelets were made using boiled durian seeds, shredded bread wedges and ash plantain skin were used to make ‘pittu,’ a chutney was made using ridge gourd skin, and the best of all, a delicious sour curry was made using passion fruit peel… and these were only a few.
"The hospitality industry is noted to generate the highest amount of waste. The chefs don’t care much about this since it is someone else who is paying for it. This is not the case. Waste is waste and someone pays for it – Travel Writer Savithri Rodrigo
It will be good to see other hotels come out with similar events as well. This way we will be able to spread to the society the message of using more and wasting less – Internationally-acclaimed ‘Queen of Curries’ Felicia Sorensen"
In addition to this, new techniques were also noted being used by the chefs while attempting to make their dishes appealing.
To point out a few, Chef Sujith Ariyarathne went to the extent of grilling string hoppers. Justifying his idea he said: “Rice is a common leftover food item in Sri Lanka. Usually this leftover rice is tempered with onions, tomatoes, and egg, and is consumed for breakfast. I thought why not use this very rice to make string hoppers. So I blended the rice with water and salt, and threw in some flour to get a good texture. I just squeezed it out of the string hopper mould directly on a heated frying pan and grilled it.”
Although busy with the competition making over six dishes for the judges, Ariyarathne added that his grilled string hoppers were best served with coconut sambol.
While Chef Ariayathne showed a Lankan way of reusing leftover food, Chef G.M. Vimukthi Vasula demonstrated techniques used in Japan to do the same. Using leftover sushi rolls, the Chef shallow fried the portions after dipping them in a wasabi batter. When asked how he learnt this, Vasula said: “I learnt this from a television show. Sushi is made with expensive fish such as salmon, throwing it away would be in vain. In Japan, these leftovers which are usually consumed raw are fried and served hot the following day.”
Speaking to the judges about their views on the competition, all four were in agreement that the initiative was certainly a step towards minimising waste in the hotel industry.
“The hospitality industry is noted to generate the highest amount of waste. The chefs don’t care much about this since it is someone else who is paying for it. This is not the case. Waste is waste and someone pays for it,” asserted Rodrigo.
Impressed with the talents showcased in the competition, Sorensen said: “With this event I hope the chefs incorporate possible ways of reducing waste into their daily routine. It will be good to see other hotels come out with similar events as well. This way we will be able to spread the message of using more and wasting less to society.”
Celebrity Chef Ranawake observed that the competition saw a great deal of creativity. When questioned what the judges were looking for in the dishes, he said: “We are looking for innovation and creativity. But at the end it all comes down to taste. Anyone can create a dish with discarded food, but the challenge is in making a palatable dish out of such ingredients.”
According to Ranawake, there were six outstanding dishes from the competition. “For me the best was the ash plantain skin pittu with ridge gourd skin mallum, the passion fruit skin ambula and the melon skin curry. These were simply great and had so much creativity,” he said.
As Colombo’s largest five star property with 501 rooms and 13 restaurants, the Cinnamon Grand expressed that food waste management was an integral part of the hotel’s day-to-day functions and it remained committed to minimising food waste.
The management revealed that in Cinnamon Grand alone, an average of 2,000 kg of food is wasted per day. With Sri Lanka having over 35 hotels classified as five, four and three star, the amount of food wasted in the country on a daily basis exceeds 70,000 kg.
Acknowledging the amount of waste generated by the hotel sector, Cinnamon Grand GM Karr said: “As a key player in Sri Lanka’s hospitality industry, we assume a serious responsibility in being environmentally and socially conscious in everything we do. As part of our sustainability vision of reducing our carbon footprint by 10% and our food-print by 25% each year, we have introduced several initiatives to create awareness in our day-to-day operations. This competition gives our chefs an opportunity to utilise their culinary skills in a creative and sustainable manner.”
He added that as a brand which offers the promise of indulgence with a conscience, Cinnamon Grand believes that every individual and organisation can make a difference in the global effort to minimise food waste.
“This competition aims at inspiring everyone to think, eat, save and reduce their food-print,” stated Karr. Speaking on behalf of the chefs, Cinnamon Grand Sous Chef Banquet Kitchen Sudath Weerakkody said the Delicious Waste Chefs’ Competition was an initiative that got chefs thinking about how much they waste and ways on minimising the same.
“It is a well-known fact that many regions in the world will face food shortages in the near future. I believe it is the responsibility of every individual to do what he can to reduce the impact. With events such as the Delicious Waste Chefs’ Competition, I hope people will be aware of the amount of food wasted and take necessary measures to reduce them,” noted Weerakkody.
Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe
