HE the Minister or Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada views the butter sculptures.

By Peter Alagos/Business Reporter


Hotel chefs participating in the Qafco Flower & Vegetable Show 2015 help increase children’s interest in culinary arts, an industry expert said.
“This is an opportunity and a perfect medium for these chefs to showcase to the public their talents in the culinary arts,” one of the judges of the show told Gulf Times.
Similar to how reality shows featuring cooking competitions have encouraged many viewers to enrol in culinary schools, Qafco’s flower and vegetable show inspire children to become chefs in the future, the judge noted.
“There might be spectators, such as the children visiting the show, who may have the talent for this kind of art. At the same time, it is also an opportunity for the general public to know that there is an art that exists in the hotel industry,” he added.
The judge also said aside from the food catering industry, hotels have benefited from the rising popularity of butter and fruit carvings, as well as bread and ice sculptures.
“This is a specialised craft, and there are now many people who have been specialising in the culinary arts sector, including catering services. When they have many buffet sets or catering events, they display all of these items to make the buffet table more attractive,” he said.
He also noted that almost all major hotels in Doha are participating in the show’s competitions every year and that their presence during the event has helped made the flower and vegetable show a success.
“Each hotel will have its own staff that specialises on this craft, and there will be tough competition among them. These chefs are multi-talented and experts of multi-tasking skills,” he stressed.
Aside from the culinary arts, Qafco’s Ammonia-4 head Neelakantan Rajasekaran said the flower and vegetable show has also encouraged many people, especially students to take on home gardening and horticulture, as well as through recycling.
“We try to inculcate these advocacies such as environmental sustainability early in childhood, which explains the involvement of students and schools,” he said.
He added: “Our environment section at Qafco conducts workshops in schools, as part of our CSR (corporate social responsibility) programme in order to ensure and advocate sustainable development.”
According to Rajasekaran, a market in Al Wakrah composed of owners of vegetable farms in Qatar sell cheap but quality produce that are at par with those sold in the malls and hypermarkets.
“Some of these farm owners are regular participants of the flower and vegetable show. And from that market, many families can get cheap vegetables grown from farms in Qatar,” he said.