As the Indian Culinary Forum (ICF), a professional association of chefs in the country, prepares to celebrate International Chefs Day with its annual Chef Awards later this month in New Delhi, its long-serving president, Chef Davinder Kumar, believes the event’s 23-year run reflects its credibility and success. He said the annual chef awards remain the only annual platform in the country dedicated to celebrating excellence in the culinary field that has sustained itself for over two decades with the same passion and conviction.
Chef Kumar attributed the event’s longevity to its founding principle of being “by the chefs for the chefs”. “The objective from the beginning has been to recognise contributions and excellence in culinary art. We stuck to the criteria and standards that we set and never wavered from the path,” he said.
ICF will host its 23rd annual Chef Awards and the 14th Knowledge Summit on October 31 at Le Méridien New Delhi, a new venue for the event.
The awards will recognise culinary professionals across 18 categories, comprising six Top Chef Awards and 12 Master Chef categories. The Top Chef Awards follow a nomination process, with winners selected by the Grand Jury, while the Master Chef categories involve practical culinary competitions and trade tests.
“We follow a very rigid nomination and scrutiny process. We have a WACS-certified jury who judge our Master Chef competitions,” Chef Kumar said. The Grand Jury this year will include food historian Pushpesh Pant and hotelier Greesh Bindra.
Among the changes to this year’s awards is the introduction of a Presidium Award in place of the Food Critic Award. “We have introduced a Presidium Award in place of a food critic award this time,” Chef Kumar said.
For the first time in the history of ICF Chef Awards, the Association has also introduced a cash award component to the Master Chef winners of Rs 20,000.
“With the introduction of prize money for the Master Chef categories, we are adding another incentive for chefs to compete and put their skills to the test,” Chef DK said.
In the run-up to International Chefs Day, ICF will organise 10 masterclasses for the second consecutive year, led by senior chefs from the industry. The sessions will focus on traditional and healthy cooking.
“We will have our Incredible Chef magazine dedicated to Ayurveda,” he said.
The day will begin with a Knowledge Summit which will focus on balancing food and technology in the age of artificial intelligence. Titled ‘Bridging Sustainable Pastures and Culinary Passion Through AI on the Plate’, the summit will feature three sessions led by subject experts and senior chefs, Chef DK said.
Javed Ashraf, Chairman of the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), will be the chief guest at the awards function.
Asked about food safety and hygiene concerns that have surfaced following regulatory inspections of hotel kitchens, Chef Kumar said chefs have a primary responsibility to ensure that all critical control points are followed in the kitchen, so that food is safe for consumption at every stage—from procurement and storage to processing, preparation, display and service.
However, he emphasised that food safety also requires collective responsibility, as chefs do not exercise control over the entire food chain. “There should be proper and strict monitoring of the food chain,” he said.
