Executive Chef of Hilton Colombo honoured as President of Bocuse d’Or, Sri Lanka

The International Bocuse d’Or committee has appointed the Executive Chef Rohan Fernandopulle of Hilton Colombo as the President of Bocuse d’Or Sri Lanka.

Bocuse d’Or is a global network of Chefs, future celebrities, famous cooks and partner companies. The founder of Bocuse d’Or Committee is Chef Paul Bocuse who believes that Chefs should not be limited to kitchens. He wanted to reveal the culinary skills of Chefs to the world and ever since 1987 the Bocuse d’Or contest has been giving young chefs a unique opportunity to demonstrate their skills.

Bocuse d’Or is ranked as one of the highest live cooking competitions in the world. For the first time in Sri Lanka, Executive Chef Rohan has been selected to represent Sri Lanka for this prestigious gastronomy committee.

Chef Rohan humbly smiles and says “It is indeed an honour and a privilege to be appointed as the president of Bocuse d’Or committee Sri Lanka where they have acknowledged my skills and capabilities”

Chef Rohan, the long service master of the kitchens has 27 years of experience in Hilton Worldwide. He is the only Sri Lankan member of the most prestigious club “Des Chefs des Chef” in France. The main responsibility of Executive Chef Rohan as the President of the Bocuse d’Or Sri Lanka is to groom a candidate for the Bocuse d’Or Asia 2012 Competition which is to be held in Shanghai, next June.

Four candidates from the Asian competition will be selected for the finals in Lyon, France in January 2013, where they will compete against the best Chefs from all over the world.

The candidate for the competition should be aged 23 or older, professional chef and should be of Sri Lankan nationality. Further the candidate should be supported by a Commis Chef no older than 22 years.

Apart from the above the President of the respective country should appoint a Promotion Manager and an Official Coach. A Promotions Manager should communicate all documents concerning the organisation and promotion of his/her country’s national selection to the Organising Secretariat.

Selecting a competent Official Coach is the next challenging task for Chef Rohan. According to Chef, the Official Coach should be a person who has international exposure in Hot Cooking Live and who has been on an international judging panel of a culinary competition.

Chef Rohan plans to call for applications from recognised hotels/restaurants in the country where he will screen the best chefs from the National Culinary Competition to represent Sri Lanka at the Bocuse d’Or Asia.

The candidates will be reviewed by an International judging panel at the finals of the National Competition. “It is mandatory to have Bocuse d’Or Chefs on the judging panel for the National Competition” says Executive Chef Rohan who intends to give a real international exposure to the candidates.

Establishing a Bocuse d’Or Academy in Sri Lanka is one of Chef Rohan’s dreams. His intention is to upgrade skills and knowledge of young Chefs. “I will use my experience and knowledge to develop young Chefs.” He also stated that being appointed as the President of Bocuse ‘Or Sri Lanka is a good opportunity to map Sri Lanka in the Culinary World.