Culinary completion gatheres world-class chefs in Almaty

A culinary completion has gathered world-class chefs in Almaty, Tengrinews reports. The 1st International Culinary Festival 2013 kicked off on October 28 at Almaty Towers in Almaty city, Kazakhstan. Today, on October 31, is the festival's final day. Nearly 100 chefs from Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan are participating in the festival. According to President of the Chefs Association of Kazakhstan Alexandr Tregubenko, this is an outstanding event for Kazakhstan, where world-class chefs are sharing their experience with young professionals. The jury includes vice-president of the World Association of Chefs' Societies (WACS), and presidents of Croatian, Romanian, Cypriot, Russian and Turkish Associations of Chefs. The jury evaluates everything: the taste of the dish, presentation, modernity and originality and the chef's working place. The chairman of the jury, president of the Russian National Guild of Chefs Viktor Belyayev, who has been the Kremlin Chef for 30 years, says that the culinary mastery is improving in Kazakhstan. "It is precious to me that their national cuisine has not been lost and forgot here and at the same time they want to learn national cuisines of other countries. I saw numerous performances of my colleagues from Kazakhstan. I like that young and already experienced chefs cook their national dishes with love," Belyayev said. The holder of 178 medals and top awards, director of the World Association of Chefs' Societies (WACS) Continental Director for Africa & Middle East Thomas Gugler is a special guest of the culinary completion and its jury member. The renowned chef has cooked for kings of Thailand and Switzerland, for Frank Sinatra, Madonna and Michael Jackson. "The event that is taking place here is very important and good! It is my first time in Kazakhstan and I am pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the country and friendliness and hospitality of its people. I believe that Kazakhstan chefs are skillful and have a bright future. I judge from what I have seen at international contests. Especially, when it is about cooking of national dishes. I have tried Kazakh national dishes made of horse meat many times. And when I arrived to Kazakhstan my day started not with a cup of coffee or tea, but with a slice of horse meat," Gugler said. The cooking festival was opened by Kazakhstan juniors who study in culinary colleges and lyceums on October 28. On October 29 professional chefs performed in the Fish and Mutton nomination, and the Fitness Dish and Pasta nomination was held on October 30. Kazakhstan chefs are competing for the Chef of the Year title on October 31. The main requirement of today's contest is that the hot dish is made of horse meat. The Grand-Prix competition is also taking place on the final day of the festival. Each team is represented by three members. The rule of the competition is that the participants do known know which ingredients they will have to work with until the very beginning of the contest. After they open the "black box" they have 110 minutes to come up with a menu and cook it. By Vladimir Prokopenko