CHSGA President Sunil Dissanayake, Dilmah Tea Suren Atukorale, SLTPB Chairman Dr. Rohantha Athukorala, Bocuse d’Or Sri lanka President Chef Rohan Fernandopulle, SLTDA Chairman Paddy Withana, Bocuse d’Or Sri lanka Event Coordinator Alan Palmer, Hilton Colombo Director Operations Shane Ingram, Former Bocuse d’Or Winner from Belgium Roland Debuyst and Bocuse d’Or Sri lanka Asst. Coach Buddika Samarasekera at the head table

By Madushka Balasuriya

Sri Lanka for only the third time in its history has been invited to participate in the ‘most prestigious live culinary competition in the world’, the Bocuse d’Or. 

The Bocuse d’Or is a revolutionary gastronomy contest, which gives young chefs a unique opportunity to demonstrate their skills, and offers them a tremendous springboard for their careers. It was created by Paul Bocuse in January of 1987; he is an icon in the culinary world, receiving the Chef of the Century award in 2012, and his cuisine has set new standards.

The national selection for Bocuse d’ Or Sri Lanka will be held on 23 October at the SLITHM (Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management) premises followed by a gala dinner and awards ceremony, where Team Sri Lanka will be awarded the opportunity to represent Sri Lanka in Bocuse d’ Or Asia 2016. The sixth edition of the competition to select the Asian finalists will then take place in the Asia Pacific Region in April 2016. The top four Asian countries will be invited to the 17th Global Final in Lyon, France in January 2017 where they will be among 24 countries competing for the coveted Bocuse d’Or title.

“You will be cooking in front of over 6,000 people; there will be more noise than a soccer stadium. It’s very difficult because you’re trying to concentrate on what you’re doing amidst a cacophony of drums and horns; the event assumes a sort of carnival atmosphere,” added Bocuse d’Or Sri Lanka event organiser Alan Palmer, when explaining what chefs who make it to the televised world finals can expect.

The competition brings together 24 of the most promising young chefs from all over the world, where they are expected to prepare high class dishes from scratch within an allotted time period, all in front of a live audience. A jury composed of the most illustrious chefs of the planet will be tasked to decide between them.

Spearheading the Bocuse d’ Or Sri Lankan chapter is culinary guru Rohan Fernandopulle together with an executive committee of some of the most renowned chefs in Sri Lanka: Dhaithya Krawage, Chandrasiri Sudusinghe, Kithsiri De Silva, Alan Palmer and Buddhika Samarasekera.

“Making it to the world finals of the Bocuse d’Or is the dream of any chef,” explained President of Bocuse d’Or Sri Lanka Rohan Fernandopulle at the launch event for the Bocuse d’Or Sri Lanka competition on Friday. “The aim of Bocuse d’Or Sri Lanka is to train our chefs to be on par with the best in the world. Our local chefs have an innate ability to create spectacular dishes and I believe with the correct training and guidance we have been able to provide them, Sri Lanka will soon be rubbing shoulders with the culinary giants of the world.”

Beyond a mere cooking contest, the Bocuse d’Or is a show that draws extraordinary media coverage. Many talented chefs have made a name for themselves thanks to the contest.

Team Sri Lanka participated at the Asia Pacific finals in Shanghai and was short by one mark to qualify for Lyon 2015. At the competition held in 2013, team Sri Lanka was selected to participate at the World Finals in Lyon, France, after being placed amongst the top four at the Asia Pacific competition.

This year’s Sri Lanka qualifiers will be conducted by Bocuse d’ Or Sri Lanka together with Sri Lanka tourism and CHSGA. In order to provide our chefs with appropriate training Michelin Star/former Bocuse d’ Or Winner Roland Debuyst was especially flown in from Belgium for the pre-training program held on 2 October at the SLITHM premises. Along with him, a renowned international jury comprising of President Bocuse d’Or Asia Chef Otto Weibel, Chef Christophe Megel from Singapore and 2009 Bocuse d’ Or winner from Sweden Chef Jonas Lundgren, will arrive to ensure the high standards of the competition. 

Culinary gurus Chef Dharshan Munidasa and Michel Saelen will strengthen the jury for a tight battle amongst Sri Lanka’s most talented young chefs.

Pix by Upul Abayasekara

Bocuse d’Or will help food tourism, says SLTDA Chairman

One of the most unique aspects of the Bocuse d’Or culinary competition is that the finalists are expected to make their dishes utilising ingredients which are sourced in and represent the culture of their country. Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority Chairman Paddy Withana believes that this is the exact aspect our chefs need to focus on to bring more food tourism into the country.

“I’m so happy that Rohan and his team are bringing this standard of cuisine to these young (Sri Lankan) chefs. And we’re doing this using our own ingredients, that’s the best part; the ingredients of Sri Lanka,” explained Withana.

“Food and travel is linked. When people travel to different countries they look for ethnic food. So it’s important to keep our own food at the top level. We want to brand the Sri Lankan food. We need to make the world more aware of Sri Lankan food. Food is a major component to increase tourism.”

Withana added that competitions such as this would increase the technical know-how of young chefs in Sri Lanka thereby improving overall standards. However Ceylon Hotel School Graduate Association (CHSGA) President Sunil Dissanayake urged caution and warned against a lax attitude prevalent in the country, where lessons learnt in events such as this are not retained.

“What should not happen, as it usually does in most events, is that we prepare very aggressively for the competition and when we go back to our hotels we go back to the normal style of working,” revealed Dissanayake at the launch of Bocuse d’Or Sri Lanka, whose association is partnering the event.

“We decided to partner so as to support this event, to help young chefs develop their culinary skills and competence. I think that’s a very necessary area. 

“We’re growing in the industry but I don’t think the culinary aspect of the country is growing at that same pace,” he added.

That point was also picked on by Withana, who urged the hotel industry and its stakeholders to make more of an effort to keep young talent in the country. He also called on the industry to do more to attract world class talent to work in Sri Lanka.

“When we think of Sri Lanka, we talk about the beaches, the mountains, the culture, the rivers and the waterfalls. But to keep a person for 8-10 days, and experience our Sri Lankan food at its best, you need to bring in the good chefs. I was so sad to see of the chefs who won, none of them are in Sri Lanka.”

Sri Lanka at a tipping point: SLTPB Chairman 

Sri Lanka is at a tipping point, says Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Chairman Rohantha Athukorala, and he believes that competitions such as the Bocuse d’Or will help put Sri Lanka on the global map as a premier tourist destination.

“This competition is what is going to take us into the global template. It’s going to create a lot of excitement about Sri Lanka and maybe someone who has googled, who is a food lover, might say ‘I want to come to Sri Lanka’,” explained Athukorala, revealing that for the first time in Sri Lanka’s history its brand value is due to surpass its GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

“When you have a brand which is so powerful it naturally attracts high quality tourists. It attracts high quality investments and it also attracts high quality exports. Sri Lanka for me is at a tipping point in 2015.

“If you look at the direction that the Government is taking in terms of getting closer to the West, I think you will see a drastic change in the way that the overall landscape of the country is going to change,” he added.

That change in landscape is already prevalent, notes Athukorala, highlighting several high profile global events and personalities due in Sri Lanka over the next few years.

“I’m told that in December Enrique is coming. I’m told that in the first quarter of 2016 the ATP Golf Championship will be held in Sri Lanka. The World Surfing Championships are going to take place in March in Arugambay. So there’s a lot of global activity that Sri Lanka has started attracting.”

He also revealed some more ideas in the pipeline, such as Puff Daddy holding one of his infamous ‘White Parties’ in the country, or the possibility of Tiger Woods being a chief guest at the golf championships. These are ideas Athukorala hopes will edge Sri Lanka ahead of its Asian neighbours.

“This is the kind of change in scope that Sri Lanka is seeing. If you don’t have these kinds of new ideas, you cannot make sure those people who google Sri Lanka are converted into tourists. A consumer that we would’ve lost to Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives, Seychelles or Mauritius might decide ‘I’m going to come to Sri Lanka’.”