Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), the organisers of the global Black Box Culinary Challenge, recently organised an ice-breaker with a difference in preparation for the UAE leg of the Challenge.
MLA took chefs from some of the leading hotels in the UAE away from their regular environs of the hotel kitchens, for a spot of dune bashing and a chance to really get to know each other before they compete next month!
The MLA Black Box Culinary Challenge is a very prestigious event in the culinary world that is globally endorsed by the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) and supported locally by the Emirates Culinary Guild. Uniquely, the MLA Black Box Culinary Challenge gala evening is also the UAE’s premier culinary event, which allows direct interaction between chefs and invited guests making it one of the highlights of the city’s social calendar.
The JW Marriott Dubai will once again host the competition which is set to take place on October 14. Ten teams from Dubai and Al Ain each consisting of three young chefs from around the world will compete against each other on a common platform where they can drive future culinary trends in a competitive and creative atmosphere. All teams are given a Black Box full of select ingredients including Australian meat products. They are then given an hour to devise a four-course menu using the given ingredients and submit it to the judges. Following which the teams have till the next evening’s gala event to prepare their menu.
The entire group, which included team members from host hotel JW Marriott as well as Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Madinat Jumeirah, Le Meridien Mina Seyahi, Ritz Carlton, Marcopolo Hotel, InterContinental Dubai and InterContinental Al Ain, will compete against each other in categories that judge their efforts on the basis of taste, skill, creativity and artistic merit.
