Six days, four cities and three thrilling rounds later, France was the crowned winner of the IIHM International Young Chef Olympiad 2019. The winners were announced at the end of a colourful and grand closing ceremony befitting the standard of the Young Chef Olympiad was held at Nicco Park in Kolkata. Cyrene Randrianasolo, a student of Albert de Mun Hotel and Catering School, beat 49 other nations and was declared the winner of the fifth edition of the world’s biggest culinary extravaganza. She was also the lucky first to wear the Golden Chef Cap given for the first time this year to the winner of YCO 2019. The silver trophy went to Romania’s Bogdan-Petru-Alin Vandici of ICEP Hotel School and the bronze went to England’s Luke Hayward from the University College of Birmingham. Along with the trophy, Cyrene also bagged a gold medal and was handed over a cheque for $10,000. Shocked and awed at her victory, Cyrene was nervous and managed to thank everyone for her win. “I am honoured to win this recognition from IIHM at YCO 19. I want to thank them all for this wonderful opportunity and I am overwhelmed to have won this trophy and prize,” said Cyrene.
This year, the International Young Chef Olympiad, had an additional attraction with a Plate Trophy for countries that ranked between 11 to 20. The plate trophy winner was Matthew Potgieter, a student of South African Academy of Culinary Arts. The International Young Chef Olympiad 2019 commenced on January 28th 2019 with a Grand Opening ceremony held at Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Auditorium in New Delhi. After that, the countries completed two rounds of competition in Delhi, Pune and Bengaluru before coming to Kolkata for the final round. Cyrene bagged the winner’s trophy after the final round held at the IIHM Global Campus in Kolkata. The final round included preparing a salmon-based dish, a potato-based side and a dessert. Apart from the winner’s trophy Cyrene also bagged an award for Best Hygienic Practice.
