TV Times

TV Times

‘The Culinaire’ : New competition with Ceylon Tea by Dilmah
By Yohan Perera
Colombo final of first ‘The Culinaire’, will take place on March 8 at Hilton Hotel. Event is organized by MJF Group producers of Dilmah Tea and the Chef’s Guild of Sri Lanka with the intention of showcasing of cooking skills and creativity using finest Ceylon Tea.

The competition will see 15 teams from leading hotels in the country , each consisting of a team-leader and three chefs, vying for supremacy in several categories.

According to Chef’s Guild President Gerard Mendis, hotels such as Colombo Plaza, Trans Asia, Taj Samudra, Mount Lavinia Hotel, Colombo Hilton and other leading hotels have confirmed their participation in the competition. Each culinary team will prepare a Menu Degustation featuring in each dish or beverage, one of 25 different teas.

These include Dilmah’s innovative Watte, Single Region Teas, t-Series, Designer Gourmet Teas and a selection of Specialty and Green Teas. An emphasis has been placed on sea food celebrating one of Sri Lanka’s culinary assets. The teams will also prepare a sorbet, main course, dessert and petit-fours Judging will take place into consideration the composition, creativity, preparation, appearance, service , practicality and taste.

A panel of four internationally acclaimed food industry professionals will judge the culinary creations, eventually selecting the winners who will travel to Europe to present their Oilmah The Culinaire range and skills at luxury hotels in several countries. The panel includes judges from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Australia ‘and Singapore.

Following its Colombo debut, The Culinaire will traverse the world with similar events planned in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Announcing The Culinaire, Merrill J. Fernando, Founder of Dilmah claimed, “The future of Ceylon Tea, our country’s prized product, lies in integrating quality tea not just any tea - into the lifestyles of our consumers. That is what we hope to achieve with The Culinaire.” The, meaning tea in French sounds exactly the same in its Sinhala equivalent.

Partnering with the Chef’s Guild of Sri Lanka, Dilmah is presenting a challenge to Sri Lanka’s finest chefs to showcase their talents and originality. Tea and Gastronomy are words that are not usually spoken in a single sentence. The commoditisation of tea which saw it spiral from celebrated natural beverage in the 19th Century to boring, traditional drink in the 21 st, sacrificed the glamour in tea. Accompanying that decline, have been the fortunes of tea producers. Fortunately, Dilmah plans to change that by continuing its own tradition of innovation in tea, in a manner that will bring culinary art and gourmet tea together.

Dilmah Marketing Director, Dilhan C. Fernando added, “There is no beverage more suited to a 21st Century lifestyle than tea. When good tea is packed garden fresh and unblended it is all natural, good for your health and it is also infinite in variety. To ensure that there is a future for quality Ceylon Tea, we need to be innovative, evolving new ways for the consumer to savour tea and its benefits. That is the philosophy that is at the core of the The Culinaire project”

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