The finals of the unique cooking contest called “PAU”SHE”TIK Cooking competition” was held in the city on Sunday at Institute of Hotel Management Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition.
The contest is an initiative of COWE and Hands in Hospitality Chef’s Association.
Twenty-four winners from eight preliminary contests held across the two Telugu States at Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Nellore, Visakhapatnam, Karimnagar, Warangal, Nizamabad and Jadcherla/ Mahabubnagar competed in the finals.
These twenty women, mostly homemakers aged between 35 and 65 years reached the finals competing with 720 women. They were given two hours’ time to cook three dishes — starter, one main-course dish and a dessert.
Five-member judges panel tasted the food and gave the verdict based on healthiness of the ingredients used to cook, presentation, cleanliness, least amount of wastage and other parameters.
Almost all cooked healthy food as ‘Paushtik’ was the theme. Older women proved their mettle over younger women. The beauty of the contest was the fusion food. The old participants cooked old type dishes in modern trend in terms of ingredients, cooking method and presentation, observed a chef Chinnam Raju of HIHCA.
The winners will be declared in a function organised especially for this purpose on Monday at Hotel Tourism Plaza, Greenlands. The participant who stands first will walk away with the ‘Kitchen Queen’ title besides prizes. Two others will be runners-up.
The Hyderabad based, homegrown national body of women entrepreneurs, the Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs of India (COWE) aims to turn 25 rural women into food entrepreneurs through their novel initiative called “PAU”SHE”TIK Cooking competition”, titled “Mera Swad Mera Swaasth”.
About 720 rural women participated in these contests. Over 35% of these women will be converted into women entrepreneurs in near future, COWE informed.
