As to previous years of Ajinomoto Philippines' UCC, the focus of the competition is in umami, the 5th basic taste together with sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Project Head of UCC Chef Russell Bautista said "We want more aspiring chefs to discover how deep understanding of umami effectively develop their skills to attain culinary excellence”.
There would be (5) competition categories: 1) Umami Bento Meal, 2) Healthy
Asian Umami Dish, 3) Best Filipino Umami Dish, 4) My own Umami Creation and 5)
Umami Potter. Criteria for selecting the winning dishes are intensity of umami
taste, culinary technique and creativity, dish preparation, plate presentation
and Eat Well, Live Well.® Cooking, which refers to the integration of culinary
skills and nutrition knowledge to create a delicious and nourishing umami dish.
UCC Judges includes culinary luminaries like Chef
Seiji Kamura (Executive Chef Mana Clinary Fusion), Chef Joey Herrera (ISCAHM
Chef), Chef Ed Quimson (Chef Patron M Catering & Fine Foods), Chef Eugene
Raymundo (Food stylist, part owner of Five Cows Restaurant and Kitch Café), Chef
Babes Austria (Executive Chef, Taal Vista Hotel Tagaytay), and more.
Like last year, foodies and guests
can also join to seminars on food safety and food processing, umami cooking
demonstrations, interactive booths from sponsors and other exciting activities with exciting tokens and taste the food especially in portion of cooking demonstration.
UCC also welcomes caterers and meat processors as the event is staged in
partnership with the Food Caterers Association of the Philippines (FCAP) and
the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS).
The AJINOMOTO® Umami Culinary
Challenge 2013 is presented by Ajinomoto Philippines Corporation and sponsored
by La Germania, Solane, Whirlpool/Fujidenzo and Masflex.
