The Future Chef Contest 2023: A culinary “party” with a hometown flavor, reminding young people of family values

From 200 applications from young chefs, students and students across the country, on the evening of August 23, the TOP 12 best contestants of The Future Chef Contest 2023 officially competed in the final round of the contest taking place at Tan Cang Tourist area.

Continuing the decade of honoring Vietnamese cuisine

The Future Chef Contest (TFC) is a project organized by students of Hoa Sen University’s Faculty of Hospitality for young people who have passion and love in the field of restaurants and kitchens. Here, the contestants can unleash their creativity and show off their culinary skills.

If The Future Chef 2022 has set a record with an epic Vietnamese culinary map, The Future Chef 2023 has laid a new brick for a decade to continue with hometown culinary flavors, reminiscent of a cozy family meal. Especially, with the theme “Elevating Vietnamese traditional meals”, the contestants’ dishes require high creativity, blending traditional and modern elements.

In this round, candidates must draw ingredients and ideas for dishes on the day of the competition. Each contestant will prepare 2 dishes. Although the dishes are creative, they must retain the traditional value of Vietnamese food and family meals. With the main ingredients such as beef, pork, chicken … Many candidates of The Future Chef Contest 2023 have applied more flavors, spices, hometown specialties to perform the test such as: Artichoke flowers, coffee, tea, forest areca, forest banana fiber,…

Mr. Pham Son Vuong – Chairman of Saigon Professional Chef Association shared: “This year’s contestants are very creative about regional ingredients, almost all of them bring traditional dishes and specialties of their homeland. That brings a lot of color and flavor to this year’s contest. Although the time is quite small, the students are still very creative and prepared quite well, the presentation is also very eye-catching. Especially, the spices prepared this year have contributed to elevating Vietnamese dishes, helping contestants have more experience through the contest”.

Reminds us of the value of family meals

Meaningful messages about family and homeland have been sent by future chefs through their dishes. Contestant Phan Van Kiet – Champion of the Young Chef Group shared: “The reason I participated in The Future Chef Contest is because I am extremely impressed with the theme “Family Meal” this year. I haven’t been home in a long time and I’m very homesick. My main dish today is grilled pork belly in curry sauce and eggplant. This is also the dish that my mother made for me when I was a child. While making the sauce for the dish, I also cried because I missed my family.”

Meanwhile, contestant Truong Truong Thien – Saigon Polytechnic College burst into tears right on The Future Chef Contest stage when he knew that he won the first place in the Student table. Thien shared: “I am touched because I feel that all my efforts and efforts have been rewarded. I remember the challenges, the pressures that I went through during the competition. Before that, I was not supported when pursuing a career in the kitchen, but this Champion will be an affirmation to everyone and also a motivation for me to continue pursuing this path.”

Truong Thien was also the contestant who made the most of the specialty ingredients of Lam Dong’s hometown in 2 dishes: Pan-fried shrimp with fruit tea sauce and Lam Dong-style grilled ribs served with sticky rice beans. With specialties such as artichoke flowers, herbs, teas, flowers, black coffee … Truong Thien hopes that all of us will preserve the precious traditional cuisine and bring the specialties of our homeland to as many people as possible, not only at home but also abroad.

In addition to the 2 champions, The Future Chef 2023 also awarded 2 runner-up prizes and 3rd prize to contestants in 2 groups:
Student Table:
– Runner-up: Dinh Tuc Thanh – Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry
– 3rd prize: Bui Viet Hoai – Saigon Polytechnic College

Young Chef Table:
– Runner-up: Nguyen Chi Quang Duc – Trong Hien Sa Thay Wedding Restaurant (Kon Tum)
– 3rd prize: Tran Thai Cong – NCG Food chain – TP. Danang

More than just food, The Future Chef 2023 also reminds of family values. In the midst of modern and busy life, young people often choose quick meals, eat at restaurants for convenience but forget, family meals are an opportunity to bond with loved ones. This is a meaningful message that the contest wants to send to young chefs in particular and young people in general.