Telangana Chef’s Association Celebrated 4th Anniversary

Telangana Chef’s Association celebrated its 4th Anniversary in a gala event in Hyderabad. The event was attended by students from Hotel Management institutes, culinary professionals, homemakers and renowned Chefs from Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The full-day event kick-started with an inaugural ceremony attended by Chief Guests- Chef Vijaya Bhaskaran, General Secretary, IFCA, from Chennai and Samuel Berthet, Director Alliance Française Hyderabad, along with TCA (Telangana Chef Association) President, Chef Dharmendra Lamba. The inauguration was followed by a series of interesting talk sessions by various guest Chef’s on topics like –

• New trends in the hotel industry by Chef Shankar Krishnamurthy, Founder – Fusion9, The Glass Onion

• Importance of work-life balance in Chef’s world by Chef Jerson Fernandes, Culinary Director – Novotel Mumbai Juhu Beach

• Leadership in the industry by Chef Anil Grover, Founder ATMATVA

• Health Benefits of Millet – by Mrs. Vishala Reddy, Founder – Millet Bank

• Ingredients required to become Chef by Chef Ajay Thakur, Founder – Sasana Health Hub

• Chefs as food futurologist by Chef Thimma Reddy

On this occasion, Chef Dharmendra Lamba, President – Telangana Chef’s Association shared his views and said, “We are delighted to have completed four successful years of Telangana Chef’s Association. Our objective of bringing together the industry, its professionals and those aspiring to join it have been successfully met, and we continue to make sure that we bring more and more opportunities, promote talent and serve excellence on the platter for gastronomy enthusiasts. Approx. 900 people were expected to attend this event. Also, I would like to share that there are a series of events planned throughout the year planned by the association, such as – Bakery Biz, Culinary Carival, Millet Fest, Synergy Event, International Chef’s Day, Orphanage Day, Culinary leagues and others. Lastly, on behalf of TCA, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the guest Chefs who have graciously accepted our invitation to share their knowledge and experience with us today.”

Samuel Berthet, Director Alliance Française Hyderabad, said, “Hyderabad was elected as the UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2019. It’s an amazing city with multiple cuisines and traditions influencing diverse flavours such as Nizami, Andhra, Telangana and many others. In today’s food industry, it is important to have chef leaders with a strong awareness of the food ecosystem and expertise. Food is a national treasure of India, and through food, you can preserve the bio-diversity of a country.”

Chef Vijaya Bhaskaran, in his speech, said, “At IFCA, we aim to bring World Chef Congress to India. Since COVID, we have been doing a lot of online events and culinary contests. Chefs have come a long way from being background boys to the front face of the hotels today.”

Chef Germanin Arand, MD, Monin said, "Monin has been a brand of choice for over 100 years. In India, we aim to support chefs with our products. We invite all the chefs and beverage experts to play around with our products as we are working towards launching desi flavours.

Students of hotel management institutes not only attended the talk sessions by guest Chefs but also presented a display of an appetiser and a dessert plate each as part of a competition. The winners were felicitated during the felicitation ceremony. Chefs from hotels, cloud kitchens, restaurants from Hyderabad, and Trainer Chefs from institutes were also recognised for their efforts and contribution to the industry.

The day- long event ended with a gala dinner that was attended by some of Hyderabad’s renowned dignitaries like Jayesh Ranjan, IAS (Secretary- IT Govt. of Telangana), GS Naveen Kumar, IAS (Special Secretary Govt of Uttar Pradesh), Sunitha Bhagwat, IFS and others.