The Bocuse d’Or Sri Lanka along with the support of Sri Lanka Tourism and hoteliers has selected Buddika Samarasekara, chef of Colombo Hilton and Isuru Sampath, apprentice chef at the same hotel, out of 11 finalists in Sri Lanka for the finals of the Bocuse d’Or Asia, 2012.
The first stage of the selections was held recently at the Sri Lanka Institute of tourism and Hotel Management in Colombo followed by a gala dinner at the Hilton Colombo to select the two finalists on the same night.
Bocuse d’Or Asia, the Asian Final of the Bocuse d’Or global contest, is to be held in Shanghai on June 12-14 with the intension of selecting participants for the 15th Bocuse d’Or global finals in Lyon, France on January 29-30, 2013.
The contest is one of the world’s most prestigious cooking competitions and frequently referred to as the culinary equivalent of the Olympic Games.
The judges of the local event were Otto Weibel-President Bocuse D’Or Asia; Christophe Megel – President, Bocuse D’Or Singapore; Nigel Austin, Shyamalee Tudawe and Michel Saelan.
Ever since the beginning of the contest in 1987 and its arrival to Asia in 1989, this is the first time that Sri Lanka has had the opportunity to showcase its culinary skills in the Asian Finals, according to a statement issued by Sri Lanka Tourism.
“With the record hit of 855,000 tourist arrivals in 2011, Sri Lanka is looking forward to the Asian finals with positive ambitions. Due to the variety of Sri Lankan cuisine that derives from its Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim cultural roots, Sri Lanka definitely has an advantage in the competition. The competition will also provide a golden opportunity for Sri Lanka to promote its unique spicy food products to the world and thereby strengthen its confidence in achieving the forecast of 2.5 million arrivals in 2016,” it said. |
E-mail
