Two gold medals for Ireland at culinary Olympics

Irish chefs proved their international pedigree with two gold medals and a host of other awards at the international Culinary Olympics held in Erfurt, Germany.

Sponsored by Failte Ireland, the squad's two gold medals were won by Velan Subramanian and Kumar Deivendra, both Pastry Chefs from the Moran's Red Cow Hotel, Dublin. Velan's medal was for the construction a four-tier wedding cake and Kumar won his for the creation of a castle from salt dough.

The Irish squad won a total of 36 medals in a competition which saw them pit their culinary skills against more than 1,000 elite cooks from 33 national teams from all over the world.

Jack Charlton pictured at the Moran's Red Cow Hotel to wish the teams every success at the competitions.

The Junior team won its 10 silver medals in the hot kitchen, team buffet and the salon kitchen section while the senior team won twelve bronze medals in the hot kitchen section, twelve in the buffet section and the two individual gold medals in the pastry section.

The rigours of the competition meant that team members worked full days in the kitchen and prepared food throughout the night in preparation for the following day's events. All of the produce used by the team was transported directly from Ireland for the week-long competition.

Salt dough castle built by Kumar a gold medal winner.

Commenting on the Irish team's success, Failte Ireland Head of Professional Development Kevin Moriarty said,  "Failte Ireland is very proud of the fantastic achievement of the Culinary Olympic team. Each member, whether competing, managing or advising, dedicated countless hours in preparation for the competition. They have been excellent ambassadors not only for the country but also for the industry in Ireland and thoroughly deserve their reward. Their success, when pitted against such stiff global competition can only help sharpen individual culinary skills, demonstrate a country's cuisine to the world and helps update and improve the cuisine in our country. It gives wonderful profile to our industry underlying its attractiveness and international standing."

Four tier wedding cake a gold medal winner for Velan.

Founded in 1900 the Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (IKA) or Culinary Olympics as they are more commonly know, has been a showcase for international cuisine for over 100 years. Today there are over twenty categories encompassing every area of haute cuisine and patisserie. All categories are assessed by an international panel of judges on a number of criteria including taste, technical skills, creative recipes and artful presentation.

Without the continued support of Pallas Foods and Colm Cross of Diamond Workwear the transport of food and equipment would be very difficult. As in previous years these two companies provided the vans and in addition, Colm travelled with the teams and because of his incredible technical abilities proved once again that he is indispensable on these occasions.

                    

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