Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000 Issue No. 505
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Cooking for the country

By Injy El-Kashef

Dinner was recently served to 150 guests at the Marriott Hotel. Nothing unusual about that, one may think; except that it was a mock dinner intended to provide a practice session for the Egyptian National Team participating in the Culinary Olympics 2000, held in Erfurt, Germany, from 22 to 25 October. Diners from various walks of life, including journalists, university professors, businessmen and entrepreneurs, as well as an Asian tourist group residing at the hotel, were invited in order to recreate the conditions and atmosphere under which the Egyptian team would operate at the official competition. Organised by the Egyptian Chefs Association (ECA), the event served two purposes: to present a third and final training session for the team and to raise the additional funds necessary for the trip, as diners were given the opportunity of sampling the Olympic menu in return for a LE150 ticket.

The Egyptian National Culinary Team has much cause for excitement. Not only will it compete with another 27 teams, and be judged by a selection of the finest chefs worldwide, but it will also be representing Egypt for the very first time in the history of the Culinary Olympics, under the umbrella of the ECA and the World Association of Cooks Societies (WACS), headed by Siegfried Schaber.

The Egyptian Olympic Team was selected a year ago as a result of numerous screening competitions organised locally over the past three years. It consists of a captain (whose job is to assist in all different sections of the competition and to communicate with the judges), three chefs, one pastry chef and one substitute (responsible for coordination). The team is also accompanied by three trainers: chefs Markus Iten, head of the ECA, Badawi Abdel-Hamid and Ulrich Salzman. As for the final Olympic menu, it is the fruit of the collective effort and creativity of the whole team and has been prepared more times than any of the members can fathom over the past six months of training. Mona Amer, the presenter of the wildly popular television programme Sehhi wa Mufid (Healthy and Nutritious), whose first place at the recently held All American Food Competition earned her a free ticket to the Olympics, will join the ranks of proud Egyptian spectators, according to a source at the ECA.

Egyptian chefs are all impatiently awaiting the news of the Olympics, especially after being shown a sample of their colleagues' Olympic entries at this year's National Salon Culinaire. During the Salon, a room reserved for the Olympic team housed a table with a temple-like creation as centrepiece, with four blue-and-gold columns supporting a cornice of the construction designed by sculptors Nagui Farid and Hisham Nawwar; black statuettes of Pharaonic deities were interspersed among the platters.

The Olympic competition comprises two sections: first a buffet consisting of 26 displays spanning hors d'oeuvres, tapas, main courses, vegetarian and festive platters, petit fours and desserts, as well as a live cooking competition entitled "The Restaurant of Nations" during which each team's Olympic menu will be prepared for 110 people over four hours.

However, other than the experience, talent and culinary prowess demanded of the participating team, numerous logistical details will have to be executed smoothly in order for the chefs to perform properly. For instance, the cold section of the buffet requires central display pieces, plates, platters, mirrors, plate holders, menu holders and cards; the live cooking requires china ware, cutlery and individual menus for each of the 110 guests. All these items will be transported from Cairo in addition to some of the necessary ingredients that must be purchased locally and shipped as cargo, itself a tricky affair considering the European laws on food transportation, which must be followed carefully.

The Culinary Olympics are important not only for the possible certificates or medals they can bestow on proud chefs, but mainly for providing the teams with ample opportunity to update their repertoires and get acquainted with the latest trends in culinary fashion worldwide. Gone is the supremacy of Nouvelle Cuisine, with its smaller portions, focus on presentation and reduced fat. Although it still prevails, and probably will do for some time to come, Nouvelle Cuisine is now in tough competition with several culinary movements which resulted from the wave of globalisation sweeping the planet.

Like every other aspect of modern life, gourmet cooking is claiming a new identity. This was one of the subjects discussed by Claudia Roden in her seminar entitled The Revival of Culinary Traditions, held in Cairo earlier this year. Roden is the recipient of the 1999 Prince Claus Award, established by the Dutch Prince Claus Fund to stimulate cultural activities worldwide.

Roden's words kindled a spark of enthusiasm among Egypt's culinary community. She eagerly stressed that Egypt should spare no efforts in making itself the culinary capital of the world, as the demand for Middle Eastern cuisine is on a quick and high rise. She also thought it was "extraordinary that a civilisation has kept some of their food traditions for such along time, and Egypt is probably unique in this way... Foods that have existed since Ancient Egyptian times include clarified butter, molokhiya, qulqas, turshi, barley, firik and hummus." According to Roden, these are all ingredients that can be used to create an Egyptian haute cuisine, which could also include fish stew, fitir, mahshi, kushari, fuul with tomatoes and, believe it or not, fatta.

Siegfried Schaber, head of the WACS and president of the German Chefs' Association for over 12 years, also saw the untapped potential of Egyptian cuisine. Present at the National Salon Culinaire 2000, he expressed concern over Egypt losing its local culinary traditions. Schaber was impressed with the kushari, artichoke and minced meat, chicken curry, ta'miya and lentil salad he sampled in a village located an hour north of Cairo. "What I liked was the taste -- each item tasted like itself: a lentil tasted like a lentil, the chicken tasted like chicken. It was an authentic taste, prepared with loyalty to the ingredients," he commented. The home-made flavour of Egyptian food is one feature that is currently being sought in haute cuisine everywhere in the world. This is why Egypt stands a good chance, not only at the Olympics in Germany, but also on the international culinary map. And judging from what we were offered at the Marriott, the National Culinary Team may well return with more than memories from Germany.

Additional information from Chef's Corner, magazine of the Egyptian Chefs' Association.

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