Chefs ready to slice the ice in Germany

Ishara Jayawardane

A team of 15 Sri Lankan chefs have set off to Germany to take part in the Culinary Olympic Challenge.

They are skilled, prepared and are ready to go fork and knife blazing into Germany with the hope of putting the icing on the topping by securing a medal. Food is the name of their game and their mission.

We are known for our cricket, why not be known for our culinary brilliance as well? Since Christmas is coming up, this will be an ideal present for the boys. Pico and Montgomery, the organizers of Hotel, Hospitality and Food Sri Lanka, the country's premier international hotel supplies and food exhibition have come forward as a sponsor of the Sri Lankan team.

"We are very glad to come forward and support the Chefs and we are in for the long haul. Together we intend to take this event to levels of international importance and support the chefs in realizing their objectives. We wish the team all the success in Germany," Project Director Asia Angus Montgomery said.

Chairman of the Chefs Guild Gerard Mendis will lead his men into Germany with one objective on his mind: The Medal.

"The entire event is based on a Christmas theme since it is getting close to the festive season. We cannot open the contest to all the hotels in Sri Lanka because of restricted space. So we have limited it to the key star class hotels and all the five star hotels in Colombo and hotels identified from the Aitken Spence, John Keels and the Mercantile group like Kandalama and Heritance," said Mendis.

This is one of the most prestigious and most valued culinary competitions in the world. "It is held every four years. Every country organizes different types of culinary events, in their own country.

The Food Olympics is like the World Olympics. In the past we wanted to take a team but couldn't because of the high expenses. We have only two Olympic winners in Sri Lanka, that is myself and Chef Dimuthu. Both of us have got gold medals.

"It has been our dream ever since then to form a national team. So we have been coaching a team for one year. It has been a lot of work on our part. We are glad to be taking a team to the Olympics and are very thankful to Pico Montgomery. Sadly we were not able to raise the sponsorship that was required.

We have got zero from the Tourist Board or the government. But somehow local suppliers like Uni-Lever, Nestle, John Keels come forward. These are very talented young guys and if we don't organize such events, these boys will never get the chance to showcase their talent globally", Mendis went on saying.

A medal at the food Olympics is world class; the holder can walk into any hotel in any country. Sixty four countries have registered up until now.