Karachi Institute of Culinary Arts (KICA) & Karachi Chefs Association’s (KCA) with the support of donor-funded TVET Sector Support Programme organized the first international culinary competition 2021 in Karachi with the name of “International Salonnière competition 2021” endorsed by the World Association of Chefs Societies (World-chefs).
The objective was to showcase the skills of trainees and graduates of the TVET Sector Support Programme in the hospitality sector on an international platform in the real-time competitive arena. The professional and young Chefs from all over Pakistan and the world participated in this competition in order to crown the best Chefs (Professional and Young Chefs). The participants were judged by panels of the international jury from South Africa, Srilanka, Dubai, Azerbaijan, and Greece, and the Pakistani jury to critically evaluate the culinary creativity of the competitors according to the competitions rules book and the guidelines given to each participant.
Through this competition, the TVET sector support program, which is funded by the European Union, Federal Republic of Germany, and the Royal Norwegian Embassy along with its partners KICAF and KCA aiming to promote the culinary arts of Pakistan at the international level and showcased the top talents of the culinary industry to the world.
The event received participation from 170 young and professional chefs from culinary institutes across Pakistan along with multinational corporates such as Nestle professionals, Unilever Food Solutions, RAK Porcelain, and national corporates such as Shangri-La Foods and Snifz appliances. The corporate entities have placed their installs to display their products. A Culinary Master class and International Chiefs Day celebration were also held during the competition.
Speaking on this occasion, Governor Sindh, Mr. Imran Ismail said, “youth bulge in Sindh province has huge potential in learning various skills in the hospitality sector. Pakistan is full of tourism opportunities where the young people from everywhere can excel with the skillset in their hands”. He said that, “I am glad to see so many young boys and girls performing culinary arts on international standards and this makes me proud”.
Ms. Birgit Kuhlmann, Chargé d’affaires, Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Karachi, speaking at the occasion said that “I am overwhelmed to see such professionalism and nice presentation by the young chefs of our TVET Sector Support Programme. This is how the TVET Sector Support Programme has helped the Pakistani youth to excel and learn skills as per today’s demand of industry”.
Mr. Olaf Handloegten, Cluster Coordinator for Training and Sustainable Development GIZ Pakistan said that “I am glad to see such an exciting response of participants in this competition. It is great to be part of this activity which is successfully highlighting the Culinary Arts in Pakistan at the national and international level and have provided an opportunity to showcase the top talents of the Pakistan culinary industry to the world”.
Mr. Shaun Smith, World Chefs Association Continental Judge and Senior Advisor for TVET South Africa said that “I am glad to be in Pakistan and excited to witness the skills of young and professional Chefs today”.
TVET Sector Support Programme since the inception of its second phase in 2017 has so far achieved training of approximately 42,000 young men and women in various competency-based occupations, assisted national and provincial TVET authorities in recognition of prior learning of around 31,200 men and women across Pakistan, for human resource development of TVET officials, trained as-many-as 5,000 teachers, assessors, principals, and TVET personnel. TVET SSP has supported the accreditation of 330 institutes, and for promoting workplace-based training and private sector-led management of training 491 IMCs have been established and almost 1,580 partnerships are signed.
Particularly in the hospitality sector in Sindh, The Program has supported the training of over 1,000 trainees from 6 different institutes in the public and private sectors. The Program has facilitated partnerships with over 30 enterprises and 3 different business and industry associations, only in this sector. To meet the quality and industry’s demand and standards 6 different National Vocational Qualifications ranging from Level 1 to Level 4 are developed in recent years. This has brought reaping results of almost 61% employment of the graduates in the hospitality sector.
The TVET Sector Programme graduates in the hospitality sector from various partnering institutes are now working with leading multinational and national companies related to the food industry like Pearl Continental, Ramada, Avari, Marriot, McDonald’s, and many more.
