Tiyan Alile, the founder of Culinary Academy of Nigeria, is a chef who wears many hats. She is the Executive Chef at the Academy’s in-house fine dining restaurant, Tarragon. Her love for all things culinary encompass running a pastry business in her formative years, food writing for a popular lifestyle magazine, and attending the prestigious L’Academie de Cuisine
Chef Tiyan, as she is popularly called, and a team of enthusiastic and highly skilled chefs have an ambition to bring out the best in African flavors. They also want to inspire young chefs during the inaugural edition of the African Young Chefs competition. The Harbour Point at Victoria Island, Lagos is the venue and May 5, the date. Ahead of this competition set to unite the continent with food, Chef Tiyan sat down to chat with Nmadiuto Uche about what everyone should expect from the competition.
Congratulations on impacting the culinary scene in Nigeria for the last 5 years. How has the experience been thus far?
The Culinary Academy is indeed five which means it has been a five-year journey of learning and impacting. We have achieved our fundamental objective which is to build human capacity in the hospitality industry and bring innovations that have global appeal to the the culinary space. It has come with the challenges entrepreneurs face as well as the rewards that give you a sense of satisfaction when your objectives are met. It has definitely been a worthwhile experience.
We are excited about the African Young Chefs competition being organized by the Academy, how long has this idea been cooking?
The competition is my brainchild and I have been planning this for at least 8 years while waiting for the right platform to present itself. The Culinary Arts Practitioners Association is in direct partnership with Culinary Academy to put this together.
Have you participated in any cooking competitions?
Yes, we have. The Academy participated in the Young Chef Olympiad organized by The International Institute of Hotel Management in India. I was a Chef Mentor and my student represented Nigeria.
That must have been great exposure. For the upcoming competition, is there a participation fee for these young chefs or will they be sponsored by the institutions they cook for?
There is no participation fee. Some of the participants have received sponsorship from organizations in their countries, their culinary Schools and some from their Chef Mentors. Participants were shortlisted on a first come basis. The responses have been amazing as we received almost 400 applications in total.
What influenced the entry age requirement of 18-29?
The age requirement was set because the average 18 year old African is sometimes a young school leaver who has the chef skills required to jump-start a career. A platform such as this would present that opportunity they may be looking for. We took the age as far as 29 because when we did our research it was discovered that the 29-year old African in this industry may be a late starter as most young chefs pick up the career after completing a first degree or as a career change. In that case, we also decided to give such persons the opportunity.
Come May 5th, what would be on the menu and who will be on the tasting panel?
The participants have received their guidelines for the competition. They would be working with a variety of mandatory food produce which includes African ingredients. They would be making 3 dishes which the jury members would assess based on their creativity, workflow, time management, presentation, hygiene and taste.
The jury and tasting panel consist of 3 well-established and experienced industry specialists. There is Mrs. Kehinde Daniel from Nigeria. She is currently the Managing Director of Kots Catering, a leading catering organization in Lagos. Mrs. Daniel (FIH) is a Fellow and Chairperson of Institute of Hospitality UK (Nigeria Branch) and she was recently awarded Fellow of Institute for Tourism Professionals.
Chef Coco Reinarhz from Burundi, who is a hospitality consultant and a member of the Chaine des Rotisseurs. He combines innovative Afro-fusion flavors in his style of cooking. He holds an Award of Service Excellence, Restaurant Association of South Africa.
Chef Nti Ramaboa from South Africa who has years of experience in the study of the diversity and creativity that African cuisine portrays.
How much do you envisage this event would contribute to the bottom-line of the hospitality industry both in Nigeria and the continent?
On the 5th of May we are expecting over 1,000 attendees at the event, an audience that cuts across Nigerians and other African nationals along with various African diplomatic missions. We would also have government officials and international hotel brands who would be scouting to recruit hospitality service professional. There would be consumer goods giants, kitchen equipment suppliers and event managers. During the day, we have planned 10 Seminars with 100 different participants. These seminars have been created to speak directly to capacity building in areas of skills, branding, marketing, understanding the hospitality industry challenges, recognizing the opportunities that exist and much more for budding entrepreneurs. The level of networking, educating and teaching that would occur in that eco-space would go a long way and create ripple effects in enhancing the standards of the industry not just in Nigeria but across the entire continent.
What do you hope to achieve with the inaugural African Young Chef competition?
Our primary objective is to create a platform for capacity building and enhancement of the hospitality industry in Africa, making it sustainable as well as substantial. We want all the participants to deepen their skills through practice leading up to the competition and of course there is always a winner. Our intention is to take this competition across the continent so it may not hold in Nigeria next year. Further down the line, we are looking to pitch the African Young Chef winner with winners from competitions organized in other continents.
That sounds very inclusive. Who would benefit from attending and sponsoring this event?
Any company that wants its media and publicity outreach to be identified with human development, education, innovation and capacity building would tick that off the box. The hospitality industry giants looking to find a pool of skilled labour would find this event insightful. The curious foodie who wants to understand trends in the culinary space would find a diverse number of innovative and creative ideas. The entrepreneur who wants to learn insightful nuggets to take their business to the next level would glean from our facilitators at the seminars. The young chefs looking for an opportunity for culinary entertainment would derive fascination from the entertainment the competition brings. At the end of the day, as organizers we would have derived satisfaction from the fact that our attendees and sponsors would have fulfilled all these intentions. Then, we would start planning the 2018 African Young Chefs Competition.
