‘Culinary Art & Food Expo’ 2017: Top opportunity for talented chefs

The 17th edition of the ‘Culinary Art Food Expo’ organised by the Chefs’ Guild of Lanka and supported by professional exhibition organisers, CDC Events & Travels Ltd., is the country’s fastest-growing professional trade exhibition for the hospitality, food and beverage sector. It will be held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) from 28 to 30 July and is one of the biggest culinary exhibitions in Asia, recognised by the Chefs’ Guild of Lanka affiliated to the World Association of Chefs’ Societies (WACS), which has a membership of 110 countries. 

Talented chefs from around the country will be sharpening their knives in a bid to impress some of the worlds’ most successful chefs and win a place in this premier culinary competition. The event will have two segments, a culinary art competition held over three days, and a trade exhibition on hospitality, food and beverage sectors. Additionally, hotels in Dubai and India as well as contestants from the Chefs’ Guild of Maldives will be participating in this event.

The mega event will feature 1,700 chefs from 165 hotels vying for the various culinary accolades in the competition. These rising stars of the food industry will be put to the test during three days of intensive competition. It would result in an opportunity for professional young chefs to compete for 34 coveted trophies.

Individuals and teams representing hotels and resorts will go head-to-head each day, creating a mouth-watering menu of internationally-themed dishes including plated appetisers, five-course set dinner menu, petit fours/pralines, pastry and chocolate showpiece, hot and cold finger food for the judges. In addition, wedding cake structures, butter sculpture, bread dough showpieces will also be featured in the competition. The food presentations will be assessed by 31 respected judges from the World Association of Chefs’ Societies, who will collaborate to appoint the winners.

Together with a host of exhibitors, the event hopes to attract huge numbers of food, beverage and hospitality sector attendees. Attendees will enjoy four days of business opportunities, networking and knowledge sharing. 

Sponsors for the event are: Diamond sponsor – Nestle, Platinum Sponsor – East West foods Ltd., Gold Sponsors – Litro Gas, Dilmah and Fonterra, Main Sponsors – Jovieka, Prima, Sunquick & Rich’s and Co-Sponsors are Keels Krest, Unilever Food Solutions, Silvermill, Motha and Ritzbury.

Official hotel partners are Cinnamon Grand, Cinnamon Lakeside, Cinnamon Red, Movenpick, Taj Samudra, Hilton Colombo, Hilton Residencies, Galadari, The Kingsbury, Mount Lavinia Hotel, Aitken Spence Hotels and Jetwing hotels. 

- Pix by Krishan Ranasinghe