The Young Chef Olympiad (YCO) is one of the largest and most prestigious Culinary Olympiads held across 4 Indian states, namely, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune and Kolkata. This year, the competition is organized and hosted by the International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) as it approaches its 5th Season.
The competition brings together young, talented student chefs from over 61 countries and takes place on the 28th January 2019.
Over the past few years, we were immensely proud to have two of our students represent Singapore in the Young Chef Olympiad. Namely Mathew Tham Jia Jun, who was named champion of the 3rd edition of YCO 2017 and Andre Lim An Rui, who was one of the 10 contestants out of over 60 contestants, that earned a place to compete in the Grand Finals in the 4th edition of YCO 2018. Way to go Matthew and Andre!
“Matthew Tham Jia Jun of YCO 2017 (Left) and Andre Lim An Rui of YCO 2018 (Right)”
Reality TV to Big Dreams
Apart from his grandmother, Henry was alsohooked onto the hit cooking series ‘MasterChef US’ which he has been diligently following since the airingof the first season. With each episode ending up more captivating than theother, his passion and interest only grew stronger. He would always be in awe by how each dish wascreated and served on the table, especially those that were home-cooked.
It was there and then when he decided that he was going to pursue a profession in cooking!
“I look forward to competing amongst the best ‘young’ chefs from around the world inYCO 2019.” Says an excited Henry. Through this competition, he hopes to be able to showcase his skills and to meet and learn about the various cuisines from people of different cultures. Not only is this privilege going to be rewarding, but it will be an experience that would be hard to forget, no doubt – A definite milestone in Henry’s culinary journey.