[L-R] Mary-Ann Gardner, Zain Sidhu, Maryam Darwesh, Gabriele Kurz and Pamela Gould. [L-R] Mary-Ann Gardner, Zain Sidhu, Maryam Darwesh, Gabriele Kurz and Pamela Gould.

Maryam Darwesh, demi chef de partie at The Westin Dubai’s Blue Orange restaurant, has beaten off stiff competition to take home the title of Female Chef of the Year 2009.

The competition — the only annual contest between female chefs in the Middle East — was launched by Nestlé Professional to “support women on the move”, according to Nestlé Professional assistant brand manager Mary-Ann Gardner.

“We strive to provide support for all chefs in the Middle East — and last year, we realised there was a lack of female chefs being highlighted in the industry,” she explained.

“Taking a closer look, these chefs told us that it was due to a lack of experience in being in the spotlight; they preferred to remain behind the scenes.”

But today, with the competition its second year, Gardner says the event is “bigger and better in every way”.

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“This year we increased the number of participants to 22 and had a very good representation of all the top hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” she noted.

Open to female chefs of chef de partie level or lower, the event was held at the International Centre for Culinary Arts in Satwa, Dubai, where contestants had to prepare, cook and present two recipes — a main course and dessert.

Explaining the format of this year’s event, Nestlé Professional advisory chef Zain Sidhu explained: “The ladies registered for the competition and immediately went into a briefing, where I gave them details on all the Nestlé Professional products and some chef tips. The judges also gave them some encouragement to ensure they also had some fun!

“The ladies then had one hour to write a recipe consisting of a main course and a dessert using ingredients from the mystery box,” he continued.

“This included Nestlé Professional products like Maggi chicken stock, Maggi coconut milk powder and Chef demi-glace as well as Nestlé’s crème brulée, crème caramel and chocolate mousse for the dessert.