Amanullah team wins first position at culinary competition
The Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management (DTHM), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) organised a Culinary Competition to commemorate one year of the adoption of the resolution declaring 2022-23 as the ‘International Year of Millets’ on September 16, 2022. It holds crucial importance not just to India but Asia, Africa and other countries.
The results were announced by Chef Siddharth. In the competition the 1st position was secured by Mohd. Amanullah, Sidra Sartaj, and Faizan Ahmed closely followed by Adeen Ahassan and Mohd. Rahib secured the 2nd position whereas 3rd position was bagged by Nahiba Rehman, Zofa Khan and Rafiq Ahmed.
The year entitled as International Year of Millets’ aims to promote one word movement i.e. “Life” which stands for a vision of a sustainable and resilient lifestyle which is useful in dealing with the climate crisis and future unpredictable challenges. It is proposed as a mass movement of environmental conscious lifestyle which promotes sustainable, mindful, and deliberate utilisation of millets. In line with this the department organised a culinary competition with the theme “Traditional Recipes of Millets” which proved as an apt contribution to this vision which holds an objective to create awareness of the nutritional and health benefits of millets. Millet has garnered global interest in the recent past – courtesy the rich nutrient-profile.
The programme commenced with the evaluation of the laborious and creative efforts of the students of the Bachelor of Hotel Management, DTHM, JMI.
Vice Chancellor Prof. Najma Akhthar was the patron of the programme.
The students enthusiastically exhibited their culinary skills in the competition with the theme “Traditional recipes of millets”. Students actively participated and doled out nutritious yet delectable delicacies out of millets. In total there were 9 teams consisting 3 students in each. Artifacts and the visual presentation of the items was a treat to the eyes of one and all.
The items were judged on the basis of a certain criteria comprising namely of taste, appearance and presentation. The students also presented the nutritional and calorific values of the millets dishes prepared by them. The judges for the competition were the culinary extraordinaire Chef Ajay Sood and Prof. Nimit Choudhary who carefully examined each of the dishes and provided detailed feedback to the participants. Chef Ajay Sood interacted with students and was elated to see the enthusiasm shown by the students. The jury of the competition was intimidated by the efforts of the students and it was indeed tough to decide the winning team.
Later, the programme took shape with the introduction of the theme of the programme by Dr. Aarti followed by felicitation of token of appreciation and welcome address by HoD Dr. Sarah Hussain. She offered her gratitude to the Judge and invited speaker Chef Ajay Sood for sparing his valuable time to interact with the students and be a part of the event. She also explained the importance and the need of conducting the event.
Further, the event was addressed by Chef Ajay Sood, Hospitality Consultant and Former Executive Chef at Taj Sats Air Catering. He conveyed to the students that hard work is the only key to success and apprised the students of the nutritional benefits of using Millets. He stated that Millet is a genre of cereals which are loaded with almost every essential nutrient and is often considered as an ancient superfood as its gluten free which is the root cause of many underlying diseases. There is a variety of millets grown in India and each of these millets are affordable, easily accessible, and versatile to the core. Furthermore, the audience were addressed by Prof. Nimit Choudhary who appreciated the sincere efforts of the students and colleagues to make this event a successful venture.
The event was success which flagged a healthy spirit of competition with the provision of the much needed platform to let the students showcase their culinary skills filled with learning and creativity after the pandemic closed down of the educational institutions.
At the end Dr. Nusrat Yasmeen, coordinator of the event proposed her vote of thanks to the dignitaries and participants and winners of the competition which marked the conclusion to the programme.
