A culinary arts student is the winner of a cooking competition sponsored by Unilever Kenya in which participants were required to create different recipes using locally available ingredients.
Bria Auma 21, a student from Top Chef Culinary Institute, beat 11 other contestants from the college to win the overall prize of Ksh10,000 in the Royco ‘What’s for dinner?’ cooking contest. Ms Auma’s recipes included beef in beetroot curry, omena in peanut butter sauce, prawns in coconut sauce, chicken biryani, stewed tilapia, pork fry with pineapple sauce, beef burger, stewed chicken livers, sweet potatoes and coconut soup.
Royco ‘What’s for dinner?’ attracted 12 participants in from the Top Chefs’ Culinary Institute who were mentored by renowned Chef Raphael Ndaiga.
“We are very proud to empower such a young group of food enthusiasts and budding professionals to create such inspirational meals,” Mr James Jakachira, Brand Building Director for Unilever East Africa, said on the final day of the competition.
He said as part of its sustainable living strategy, Unilever seeks to empower student chefs to be the best in the profession.
“It was quite fulfilling,” said Ms Auma after being declared winner. “I got to compete with other very passionate chefs who are actually on the same level as me and I have to say it was quite challenging. The experi8ence was an eye opening one and fun too.”
A total of 120 recipes, derived from local ingredients, were created by the contestants. The students will get a chance to visit Unilever’s Royco factory to get more insights on Royco production process whose ingredient are made from locally sourced vegetables. Eventually, the 120 recipes will be featured on the Royco website (http://www.whatsfordinner.co.ke/) for everyone to access them. the participants will also get a chance to join the Royco team in engaging the public in a series of in-store activations.
Ms Auma aspires to work in different hotels and restaurants to expand her cooking experience.
Royco is no stranger to cooking competitions. Fuata Flava, a Kenyan based chef’s reality show sponsored by Royco graced Kenyan TV screens recently.