The seventh Hotel Asia Maldives International Culinary Challenge 2011 will be held in Male, Republic of Maldives from July 14-16, 2011. Held since 2002, the event is now an annual challenge.

Alan Palmer, Chef and member of the World Association of Chefs Society (WACS) has been appointed as the Project Director for this event. The culinary contest will be organised by Maldives Exhibition and Conference Services (Pvt) Ltd (MECS), a subsidiary of South Asia Exhibition Services (Pvt) Ltd based in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

In 2010, the event attracted nearly 300 Chefs from countries like Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Mauritius, Malaysia, Philippines and the local participants from Maldives. For the first time in 2010, we had six participating Chefs from South Korea. In 2011, the contest is likely to attract up to 50 international competitors and target 400 Chefs. A majority of the competition’s categories are spot preparations with simultaneous judging and feedback.

In 2010, the event had 13 categories, which are likely to be increased to 16 and improved kitchen facilities at par with international culinary events. As in the past, the event will feature a panel of reputed international judges to maintain a high standard of integrity and credibility. The competition will accept entries only from international (non-Asian countries) participants previously awarded medals in global culinary events.

The participating Chefs will be given Certificate of Participation, medals along with special prizes for individual category winners. The ‘Most Outstanding Chef’ will be invited to participate at the Culinary Challenge at Food & Hotel Asia in Singapore in 2012 and a team of four Maldivian nationals will be selected from the 2010/2011 events to represent the Maldives at the same event. The competition’s rules and regulations will be circulated in January 2011.