With more than 1000 entries each year, Salon Culinaire is one of the biggest highlights of Gulfood and a key events in the international chefs’ calendar.

This year’s competition is expected to see 2000 chefs go head to head from hotels across the globe all keen to demonstrate their artistic skills and culinary flair in 23 categories from ice carving to pastry and bread showpieces in front of a panel of international judges.

But it’s not all about the competition says Uwe Micheel, director of kitchens, Radisson Blu Hotel Dubai Deira Creek and president, Emirates Culinary Guild.

Story continues below
Advertisement

“It’s always great to win medals, but it’s not the key thing. The most important thing for our industry is to get people together and learn from each other,” says Micheel.

“Competitions are important to us, not just to win medals,” he adds. “I had a meeting with my team and we discussed how the key thing is what you learn out of it. They get feedback from international judges and have an incredible opportunity to meet and learn from other candidates. Here there are not enough hotel schools or educational programmes so this is an important learning process for them.”

There’s a lot of work that goes into the organising of the event, Andy Cuthbert, Jumeirah Hospitality; Madinat Jumeirah Conferences and Events and chairman Emirates Culinary Guild tells us, from the logistical organisation of the salon, to ensure that everything is ready and set up on time.

“This involves working with the venue and the exhibition stand builders and kitchen builders ensuring everyone is ready to go on the first day. We work with a great team of local based chefs and they all support by donating their time to the event and to the Guild. As we have been doing this for many years, we now have a great team that ensures everything is done seamlessly.”

So just why is it such a prestigious event? Well, says Cuthbert – the networking opportunity is phenomenal.

“It provides an ideal networking opportunity for exhibitors to come and see hundreds of chefs in one place at one time. There is no other event that offers that to suppliers. The Salon also is an exciting venue and draws a lot of attention to the overall exhibition. The Salon is one of the largest culinary competitions in the world today.”

For chefs, it is a fantastic development opportunity adds Sascha Triemer executive chef Atlantis, The Palm which won the Best Hotel award at last year’s contest.

“It is the biggest culinary competition in the region and gives the opportunity to young chefs of all skill levels to compete against their fellow industry professionals at the highest level. The competition is recognised by WACS and is the spring board to many chefs’ promising careers.

The learning curve participants gain is an invaluable experience for their future path,” added Triemer.

ARTICLE CONTINUES ON NEXT PAGE