Express Food & Hospitality brings The Great Indian Culinary Challenge to Pune

Pune, December 04, 2019: Under the mantle of the Indian Express, one of the leading newspapers in the country, Express Food & Hospitality has long been in the business of showcasing food to the industry. The Great Indian Culinary Challenge (GICC), an initiative by Express Food & Hospitality to showcase Indian culinary talent is more than a decade old.

And now India's most coveted culinary competition is going across the country, to reach a wider audience of professionals and students especially in the Tier 2 and 3 cities where the talent remains unexplored. The first of the GICC Live Series was successfully conducted in Dehradun. 

The next GICC will be held at Symbiosis School of Culinary Arts (SSCA) Pune on December 6. SSCA is a department of Symbiosis International (Deemed University), founded in 2016, and is the first school fully dedicated to offering qualifications in culinary science and arts under an University in the country.

More than 70 professional and student chefs have already registered for the challenge. Chefs from leading hotels like JW Marriott, Westin Pune, Radisson Blu, The Corinthian Resort & Club, Novotel Imagica, Amanora The Fern, Oakwood Residence, etc are participating. Students from renowned hotel management institutes in Pune like AISSMS, IIHM, M A Rangoonwala Institute of Hotel Management, MSIHM, etc are also participating. 

Curated by Le Cordon Bleu Chef Michael Swamy and Chef Gautam Chaudhary, the one-day Live Challenge will be open to both Professional Chefs and Student Chefs in two categories: International Cuisine and Regional Cuisine.

There will be separate rounds for each community. Gold, Silver and Bronze Winners will be selected for both the International and Regional Dish in each community. Six Awards for Professional Chefs and six for Student Chefs, a total of 12 Awards will be given away in the evening at a gala Awards Ceremony at the Institute's auditorium in the evening. The event will also host Master Classes by eminent chefs.

The GICC Live Series will be conducted at renowned hotel management institutes in 12 cities over a period of one year. As a national Media publication, Express Food & Hospitality aims to nurture the chef community in the country. The strategy to organise the series in Hospitality Institutes is to give students an opportunity to meet and connect with chefs from the industry and have real time experience of a Live competition, said a GICC spokesperson.