Who said cooking was as easy as boiling a pot of pasta? Fatemah Farag discovers the world of culinary art where there is a right way to do everything Salmon mousse swirled into perfect peaks, Matisse-like designs drawn in fruit coulees and chefs moulded out of chocolate; walking up and down row after row of food you'd think you were in culinary paradise. But alas, the offerings are heavily coated in aspic and therefore inedible. At the 2004 National Salon Culinaire held this week, over 300 entries -- in 14 categories ranging from cold fish, shellfish and mollusks show-platters, vegetarian platters all the way to petit fours -- were judged according to composition, originality, correct preparation, presentation, ingredients, recipe and serving. "A little too much sauce on the plate," mused one of the judges and the group of fellow panelists nodded their white-hatted heads in consternation. According to head judge Cornelia E Volino, chairman of the Canadian Culinary Federation, "Compared to other national competitions, the entries on display here are very competitive." And Volino should know; she has judged similar national competitions in the Nordic countries, China and New Zealand, to name but a few. Organised by the Egyptian Chefs Association (ECA) and the World Association of Cooks Societies (WACS), this year's Salon is the seventh of its kind. "The ECA's mission is to improve the excellence and standards of its members by encouraging the exchange of culinary knowledge on a national and international level," explained Markus Iten, ECA president. Since he started working in South Africa in 1978, Iten has been working hard to improve the standards of his trade. "I also worked on promoting the national chefs association in South Korea and later on in Mauritius. Now I have been in Egypt for 11 years and it became clear to me that Egyptian chefs have never been given the opportunity to learn how to do the job properly. There are still no specialised culinary schools in Egypt," he said. He points to a heavy hard- back tome entitled On Cooking. "This is the basic text anyone must know by heart before they can even call themselves a cook. There are 14 methods of cooking with which all chefs must be familiar," added Iten, who has been calling for the need to establish a national certification system for chefs. Of course this book, as is the case with most text books on cookery, is in English. "There is a need to translate; but then to upgrade the profession we need time, money, influence and manpower, all of which we have very little of," he lamented. This dearth of basic knowledge has dire results on every type of food served. Just take French fries as a simple example. According to Iten, if cooked in oil with a temperature of 120 degrees, the fries will be soggy and oily. "And this even happens at five-star establishments." What most chefs do not know, is that cooking fries at 80 degrees would result in a perfect product, he explained. "Chefs are feeding masses of people, and in Egypt they have no paper to document their skills," noted Volino who went on to explain that, "food is the essence of tourism. After safety, tourists are interested in food. They won't come back to a country where they have had bad food experiences." And when you consider that tourism is the country's biggest foreign currency earner and the cornerstone of economic development, the importance of good food takes on a whole new meaning. Iten estimates that the hotel industry alone employs between 40,000 and 50,000 chefs. "An estimated 300 hotels are expected to open next year in Sinai. It is time for us to pull up our socks and bridge the educational gap that exists in the catering industry," he added. "WACS is concerned with upgrading the standard of preparation as well as preserving authenticity," explained Volino. "Standardisation will not only boost the tourism industry, but will also provide an opportunity for Egyptian cuisine to be showcased abroad." Chef Hossam El-Din Mohamed who is also treasurer of ECA adds, however, that education is only one of many factors influencing the quality of food served today. "It is the responsibility of a chef to be cost efficient or else his food will not sell. Chefs abroad -- and I have worked in Germany, Korea, America and other Arab countries -- have an abundance of raw materials at their disposal. But here, with the exchange rate and all the problems associated with imports, for me to go all out on preparing a dish would render it too expensive to actually sell," explained Mohamed. Which might well explain why it is that no matter what you pay for a meal in an Egyptian restaurant, the quality of the food is never the same as that of food served abroad. "Hotels are bringing in foreign chefs. But you need to develop local skills and then bring in expertise from abroad to complement what exists," said Volino. Iten also refers to this phenomenon in his editorial in this month's issue of Chef's Corner, a magazine published by ECA. "I can fully understand why Egyptian chefs, who have been managing local establishments for years, are unhappy with this situation." And his message was clear: "Knowledge is very powerful." And everyone agrees that standardisation makes a kitchen more cost effective. "People might say, 'look at all of this food that is going to be thrown away after the exhibit.' However, when chefs come here and see what other people are doing they can save money by copying instead of experimenting and wasting materials in the kitchen. There are 30 or 40 � la carte menus being exhibited here; all they have to do is come and have a look," said Iten. Over to the side is a special table displaying dishes being prepared by Egypt's national team for the upcoming food Olympics to be held in Germany this year. "The standard of these exhibits are far superior to the national exhibits," said Volino. "Four years ago we participated in the food Olympics for the first time and did well," recounted Iten. It remains unclear, however, if Egypt will be able to muster enough funds to take part again.
