Chef Vivek Saggar, the honorary secretary of the Indian Culinary Forum, and the head of the Skill Competitions & Industry Connect at Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council, talks about the gaps in the support system that dissuade Indian chefs from participating in International competitions. Chef Vivek Saggar, the honorary secretary of the Indian Culinary Forum, and the head of the Skill Competitions & Industry Connect at Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council, in an exclusive interaction, picks up gaps in the support system that dissuade Indian chefs from participating in international competitions.

As someone who has been involved with annual chef competitions and chef awards organised by the Indian Culinary Forum (ICF), an association of professional chefs in Northern India, uninterruptedly for nearly two decades now, and also one who has been associated closely with the organisation of WorldSkills India rounds, who better than Saggar can talk about the skill eco-system especially in the hospitality sector?

As the honorary secretary of the ICF, he feels that while the interest to participate in the trade competitions and win medals and recognitions has been growing year on year, these competitions have a long way to go to become truly international in terms of its overall organisation and quality.

Saggar said that International exposure is important for Indian chefs to understand the level of competition and gain confidence. This requires support from the private sector as well as the government in a big way.

As far as WorldSkills competitions are concerned, the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship is taking care of the entire funding and support system. But for other international competitions, there is hardly any support system available as of now, he says.

Apart from the travel and other expenses, one has to carry everything from here, he says. Its CDPs and Commis who go for these events. They lack the financial bandwidth to afford such expenses, he says, recollecting the challenges the Culinary Forum faced while sending participants for competitions in Malaysia in 2016 and 2018.

In many countries, the trade associations subsidise some part of the expenses, as well as help contestants find sponsors from the industry for them. Unfortunately, in India, such support is hard to come by, he says.

We are not even able to invite international participants for chef competitions here in India because of lack of support, he said. Even hotels hesitate to support subsidised rooms for them or kitchen space for preparations and trials,etc., he laments.

To overcome the paucity of WACS certified Judges in India, ICF will be conducting a seminar-cum-workshop for interested chefs in Delhi in December, he said. The forum has asked WorldChefs to nominate a chef to conduct the workshop, he said.

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The support system for Indian chefs to excel on a world stage is lacking: chef Vivek Saggar - ETHospitality