In May IFT and the Macau Culinary Association hosted 2 competitions aimed at promoting Macanese cuisine among students and food and beverage professionals respectively.
Both events were held on 17 May at the IFT Mong-Há Campus.
The Young Macanese Cooking Competition is an annual contest for higher education students. This was its sixth edition. It aims to offer participants an opportunity to learn more about the culture and history of Macanese cuisine. The event also aims to promote exchanges between students from different higher education institutions in Macao.
The winner of this year’s edition of the competition was IFT student Neville Choi. He is a Year 1 student on the programme leading to a Bachelor of Arts in Culinary Arts Management.
The panel of judges featured former Macau Culinary Association President Mr. Raimund Pichmaier; Macanese Gastronomy Association representative Ms. Florita Alves; Culinary Director of The 13 Hotel, Mr. Desmond Hill; and IFT Lecturer Mr. Hugo Bandeira.
The second contest – the 9th Macanese Cooking Competition – was targeted at industry professionals. The winner of this year’s edition was Mr. Handika Indra Setiawan from the MGM Cotai resort.
Judges for the professional competition included: Mr. Yves Duron, Executive Chef of the hotel Grand Lapa Macau; Mr. Raymond Vong from the Henri’s Galley restaurant; Mr Richard Stuart, Assistant Vice President of Culinary at Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd; and Mr. Axel Godefroid, Executive Chef at Wynn Macau hotel.
The term “Macanese” refers to the city’s Eurasian population: those with ancestral ties to Portugal, Mainland China and/or to Portugal’s former colonial outposts, such as Goa, and Malacca. The Macanese have a distinct social and cultural identity, cuisine and a creole language called Patuá.
Over the centuries, Macanese cuisine blended southern Chinese and Portuguese flavours with exotic new ingredients brought by Portuguese sailors. The result is a mix of influences from Europe, Latin America, Africa, India, Southeast Asia and China.
In 2012, Macanese cuisine was included in the city’s official intangible cultural heritage list. Last November, Macao became a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of gastronomy, with Macanese food – often dubbed as the “world’s first fusion gastronomy” – playing a role in UNESCO’s decision.
The Government has repeatedly stressed the importance of Macanese cuisine in the city’s unique gastronomic culture, and in the development of a sustainable tourism industry, as Macao works to transform itself into a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure.
The Macanese cooking competitions are part of IFT’s efforts to assist in increasing consumer and industry awareness of this gastronomy. The Institute has met that objective also by offering Macanese cuisine training courses and by hosting cooking demonstrations.
IFT has included Macanese cuisine in the curriculum of its bachelor degree programmes, in order to allow students to learn about the origins, preparation and characteristics of this gastronomy. In addition, the Institute plans to establish a gastronomy centre, that will incorporate research and training on Macanese cuisine.
List of winners
First runner-up: Ray Lei – Year 1, IFT’s Bachelor of Arts in Culinary Arts Management
Second runner-up: Kevin Si – Year 1, IFT’s Bachelor of Science in Hotel Management Evening Programme
First runner-up: Tang Zhitian – Sands Cotai Central
Second runner-up: Jeff Mak – Wynn Palace Cotai
