Chefs of Telangana discuss the way forward for the food industry

Participants at the food display with a judge
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement

To celebrate its fourth anniversary, Telangana Chefs Association organised an event at Hotel Trident on June 5. Apart from chefs and other dignitaries, students from various city-based hotel management institutes, culinary professionals, homemakers and chefs from Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. attended the event

As part of the anniversary celebrations, there were sessions by many chefs who spoke on topics like hotel industry trends, the importance of work-life balance, the health benefits of millet and what makes a chefs’ magic work. There was a food competition as well for the participating students. Each college/institute was required to make a display of a food item with a theme. Close to 200 students at the event listened with rapt attention as chefs like Shankar Krishnamurthy, founder of Fusion 9, spoke about adopting the trending methods of the food and beverage industry. He strongly advocated that the industry make honest efforts to improve working conditions and pay scales. “The low wages make freshers from the industry shy away.”

Students with their food display
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Addressing the students, Manohar Mylavarapu of Trident Hotel said the industry needs them and it is not the other way round. “You don’t need the hotels but we need you. Without skilled human resources, an industry like ours cannot function.”

Chef Dharmendra Lamba, President of the Telangana Chef’s Association said, “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.”

He listed out a series of events planned by the association for 2023. The events are bakery biz, culinary carnival, millet fest, synergy event, international chef’s day, culinary leagues and a lot more. Chef Mandar Sukhtankar, corporate chef Windmills Craftworks talk was directed at telling students to have a clear focus and find the purpose of their food. He said “It’s all about bringing your mind to where your hands are. In this age of information social media, it is very easy for anyone to get disillusioned with the profession at an early stage. When you find the reason to do what you do, it makes your work that much more interesting and engaging.”

The association also felicitated the unsung heroes of the food industry — the teaching staff of culinary institutes. Guest speakers such as Samuel Berthet, Director Alliance Française emphasised the need to be aware of the food ecosystem and. learning to work with what is easily accessible. “In the food industry, it is important to have chef leaders with a strong sense of awareness of the food ecosystem and expertise. Food is a national treasure of India and through foods, you can preserve the bio-diversity of a country.”

Chef Vijaya Bhaskaran pointed out, “We aim to bring World Chef Congress to India. Since COVID-19, we have been doing a lot of online events and culinary contests. Chefs have come a long way from being background boys to the forefront of the hotels today.”

Students with their food display
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Taking a different path in the discussion of food and the industry, Chef Thimma Reddy spoke about food trends with indicators in Geopolitics — stable and unstable governments deciding the future of food. He also stressed on ecology, the need to study the environment and coexistence of living beings and global warming. He said, “The work of a futurologist is “future studies,” which includes intensive research to develop useful foresight regarding what is probable, possible, and preferable for organisations, people, and the planet based on current trends and likely events.”