Report: Lavina D’sa
Pics: Joachim D’souza
“Eating is a necessity, but cooking is an Art”
To promote the cooking talents in the community, Mangalorean Catholic Center of the parish (MCCP) organised the contest of ‘Cooking without Fire’ on the 20th of January at Sts. Peter and Paul Church hall Ruwi.
As a trend of the Silver Jubilee year programs, this program also saw a huge turnout, with 49 participants participating in this contest. The contest was held in 2 categories, individual and teams. 15 participants contested for the individual category and 17 participants contested for the team category. The contestants had a mammoth task to prepare dishes without using fire or heat and all the cooking had to be done spontaneously at the venue. It was reflection of the great cooking skills that various contestants had and how well they could perform within a time-frame of one hour which was allocated to them.
The program began at 10.30am, with the young and vibrant Melita Alva, General Secretary of MCCP hosting the day’s program. Dilip Correa the President of MCCP for the Silver Jubilee year welcomed the audience. Ashok Pinto, Honorary Treasurer, lead the audience in a prayer. Jason Cardoza, Cultural secretary read the rules of the competition. The inaugural ceremony was held in a traditional way of breaking the coconut with koithi (Mangalorean sickle).The President along with the whole executive committee conducted the inaugural ceremony. All the contestants were provided with personalized aprons from MCCP. Lavina D’sa, Vice President Cultural, Spiritual and Community services introduced the judges to the contestants and Jessie Pereira, Vice president Sports and Finance along with the President welcomed the judges.
Mr. Sabi Jacob, a Chef with over 24 years of experience in the industry and an enormous exposure with international cuisines, having worked with the renowned O Sole Mio, Muscat and currently working with Tattoria, Muscat was one of the judges. Mr. Kamal Sarkar, who has worked in various 5 star and 4 star hotels in India and in the fine dining restaurants Oman and currently working for Rossini, fine dining restaurant in The Cave, Muscat was the second judge of the competition. Sachin Lobo, Community services secretary and Lynel Lobo; Sports secretary supported the participants with their needs throughout the competition. Trecilla Menezes, Internal Auditor, handled all the registration of participants along with Sandra Correa.
The venue looked like a garden filled with vegetables and fruits and as the contest began the contestants, very eagerly engaged into the preparation of the dish. As the time progressed the various presentations and culinary skills mesmerized the audience.
All the participants were awarded with a certificate of Participation by the President. Lavina D’sa proposed the Vote of Thanks. The winners of the contest were:
Individual Category:
1st Place: John Baptist Pais
2nd Place: Thomas D’souza
3rd Place: Reshma D’costa
Teams Category:
1st Place: Helen Sequeira and Praveen Monteiro
2nd Place: Gracy Barboza and Jachintha Periera
3rd Place: Suman Mathias and Salma Mascharenhas
The winners will receive their awards at the upcoming sports event which will be held in February by MCCP.
This was a very spectacular event which was also one of its kinds in the history of MCCP. Team 25 looks forward to many such events which will bring out the various talents in the community and thus buildup the unity among the fellow Mangaloreans in Muscat.
[flagallery gid=161]