Everest Better Kitchen Culinary Challenge (EverestBKCC) organized for the first time in the city of Bhubaneswar for hospitality students. EverestBKCC is India’s largest and most thrilling culinary challenge for final year hospitality students.
EverestBKCC is a culinary challenge with a distinctive difference. It not only offers a unique platform for budding chefs to exhibit their talent but also provides an ideal springboard to launch their future a great opportunity.
The theme of the challenge is 'Flavours of India' and is conducting its season 4. It aims to create awareness about regional cuisines and to popularize Indian food using Indian spices across the world. The Culinary Challenge was organized at Institute of Hotel Management Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Bhubaneswar. EverestBKCC Season 4 is scheduled to be held in 15 cities across India namely Bhopal, Kolkata, Kottayam, Chennai, Bengaluru, Dehradun, Chandigarh, NCR –Noida, Pune, Mumbai, Vadodara, Jaipur, Goa and Nagpur. Winners from all cities will be invited for the Grand Finale in Mumbai on February 17-18, 2023.
The event is supported by Incredible India - Ministry of Tourism, Government of India; Worldchefs; Indian Culinary Forum; Western Chefs’ Association (WICA); Chefs Association of Five Rivers; Chef Association of Garhwal (CAG); Gujarat Culinary Association (GCA); Culinary Forum of Goa, and Hospitality Purchasing Managers’ Forum (HPMF).
Sharada Ghosh, Principal, IHM-Bhubaneswar expressed her views that opportunity knocks to every body’s life and we have to be prepared to grab them. This is the first time in Odisha to host the national level culinary challenge like this and an excellent opportunity for the students to showcase their culinary skills, learn new trends and overcome their weaknesses, she added.
To create awareness and promote the use of millets in daily menus, Millets were given as a secret ingredient for participants to use them in one of the three course menus for competition.
The jury for EverestBKCC Season 4 at Bhubaneswar comprised of Mridul Mandal (Executive Chef, Mayfair Hotels), Amandeep Singh (Executive Chef - Trident), and Sayantan Chakraborty (Executive Chef – Vivanta by Taj). The jury appreciated the uses of ingredients, innovation and presentation by the participating students. They urged the students to take part in such culinary challenges and update their skills.
Ekkta Bhargeva, Publisher of Better Kitchen, shared that the objective of this event is to prepare students for the challenges of their future and to popularize Indian regional food using local ingredients in the form of global cuisine. This challenge provides students a platform to showcase their creative skills and utilize the ingredients in a proper way. The national winner of this competition will get a scholarship of USD 5750/- under USA J1 Chef Exchange Visitor Program while first and second runner-up will get the scholarship worth USD 1000/- and USD750/- respectively along with a year intern placement in USA by EverestBKCC’s International Placement & Study Abroad Partner Wisdom Career &Education, she added.
Winners of EverestBKCC – Best Team from Bhubaneswar was Everest Momo Masala (students of IHM - Bhubaneswar), 1st Runner-up and 2nd Runner-up were Everest Milk Masala (Students of SOA, University) and Everest Tandoori Chicken Masala (students of IHM, Bhubaneswar) respectively.
The title sponsor of the multiple city challenge is Everest Spices. Other partners are Wisdom Career & Education, Chefs Unlimited, and Asahi Kasei.
Better Kitchen & Better Kitchen Awards are Brands of Bandwagon Media