Cook ‘N’ Battle: Virtual Culinary Contest for Aspiring Chefs

Hey, future top chefs! Show off your cooking skills and win a scholarship worth around $7,700 at Switzerland’s most prestigious culinary school.

Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland, one of the second best culinary schools in the world, is organizing a super fun online culinary contest open to anyone 16 and above who wants to study at their school in 2020 and 2021.

This is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate your cooking skills and get feedback from some of the top culinary masterminds. The jury includes the likes of Vladimir Mukhin, Head Chef of Moscow’s famous White Rabbit, and Franck Giovaninni, Head Chef of 3 Michelin-starred Restaurant De L’Hôtel De Ville in Crissier, Switzerland.

How do you sign up?

To sign up for the competition simply create a video where you prepare a home-created dish. The theme for this stage of the competition is sustainability.

One of the main principles of sustainability is enhancing the life of people and local communities. It contributes to local economic prosperity, while cutting down on the energy consumed moving produce.

So, your task is to choose one local ingredient from the region you live and make it shine in a spectacular and tasty dish. You need to focus on a creative and modern presentation of a dish, so ditch your grandma’s cooking book.

You must be able to prepare the dish in at least 40 minutes and then prepare a video of no more than 5 minutes where you introduce yourself and talk about the dish, its origin, and your reasons for choosing it. You can find more information about this stage here.

Final round

If you make it through the first stage, you will be among the final seven lucky but also incredibly gifted young cooks. On entering the final round, the competition gets really though but also very rewarding.

You’ll have the chance to be mentored by the school’s Chef Instructors and then compete in a live, virtual cooking table.

From the comfort of your own kitchen, you’ll enter the live competition via Zoom and present the virtual dish to a jury of professional chefs.

All seven finalists will receive a signed exclusive recipe book by Chef Anton Mosimann and the first three will receive scholarships of up to CHF 7,500 (more on the prizes here).

Tips on how to succeed

Remember, this is an online competition so you are not judged on taste, although I bet the judges can’t be fooled even without tasting the dish.

Presentation is key here – but presentation in the broader sense, not only the plating of the dish. You need to showcase your technical skills, showcase your mastery of combining various ingredients, some in a surprising way, showcase your knowledge of local produce – its special characteristics and taste, your know-how of sustainability (remember, that’s your first hurdle to pass), and, finally, the plating.

Your creativity is your best friend – all great chefs are creative geniuses and this is your moment to shine. But don’t forget about the basics – hygiene and sanitation, for example, are part of the criteria.

But winning is not everything. We hope everyone has a fun time and there is always something to learn, especially from failures. But why not dream big for a day! Best of luck!

Organizer: Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland
Sign up date: May 6th through May 24th
Competition Website

Prizes:

• Winner: Scholarship worth CHF 7,500.00 + video feature
• 1st Runner up: Scholarship worth CHF 5,000.00
• 2nd Runner up: Scholarship worth CHF 2,500.00
• All finalists will receive a signed exclusive recipe book from Chef Anton Mosimann

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