Students from Kibondeni College are the winners of the Samsung Hotblast culinary competition. Mary Kamau, Catherine Kiilur and Josephine Kibochi managed to impress the judges after battling it out with fellow students from Top Chefs Culinary Institute and Boma International Hospitality College after a six-week cooking challenge, spearheaded by Samsung Electronics East Africa in partnership with Sarova Panafric Hotel and Capwell Industries.
Boma International Hospitality College emerged second while Top Chefs Culinary Institute emerged 3rd in the competition that saw the students battle it out over a six-week period showcasing recipes they had made using the recently introduced Samsung Hotblast microwave oven.
The winning school will get a Samsung Hotblast Microwave oven and the Samsung Twin Cooling refrigerator while winning students will get three-month internship training at one of the Sarova hotels.
“Thank you so much Samsung and Sarova for this great chance. We were pushed to the limit and were very elated to realize that the Samsung Hotblast microwave oven can do a lot more than a conventional microwave. Thank you also to the online fans who liked and shared our recipes that were put online during the public online voting process. We are also very excited about the internship opportunity we will be getting courtesy of Sarova,” said an elated Josephine, who was among the winners from Kibondeni College.
The competition, which has been running for the past six weeks was launched in February after an intense training where the contestants were shown how to effectively use the recently introduced Samsung HotBlast Microwave Oven, by the Sous Chef at Sarova Panafric, George Mathu.
They were then tasked with developing recipes demonstrating the capabilities and highlighting the key features of the Hotblast microwave which include slim fry, bake and fermentation function, throughout the cooking challenge.
Before the final announcement of the winning school, the contestants undertook a cook off challenge on March 5, 2018, and were judged on set parameters as well as adequate use of the unique functions of the microwave oven. The judges included Shailender Singh, Director Food and Beverage Sarova Hotels, Avraj Marwa, Executive Chef Sarova Panafric Hotel, George Mathu, Sous Chef Sarova Panafric, Godfrey Ouda, Executive Chef Sarova Stanley and guest judge Nev Jiwani, group Managing Director Go Places.
“I have to admit choosing a winner was not so easy. We knew that these students were the best from their respective schools and this made the judging process even harder. They presented great recipes and managed to highlight the unique features of the microwave through the weekly cooking challenge I believe that the best team won,” said Shailender Singh.
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Singh also surprised the 1st and 2nd runner ups by offering them two internship slots at any Sarova hotel in the country, saying they were really impressed by their creativity. The runner ups also won the Hotblast Microwaves for their respective schools.
The HotBlast™ technology brings a whole new way of cooking to Kenya, producing food that is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. It is also fast, powerful and stylish, enhancing the cooking experience while saving users time and energy in the kitchen. The microwave is available at select Samsung Brand Stores and authorized dealers countrywide at a recommended retail price of Ksh 29,999.
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