Culinary whiz kids earn laurels

Hyderabad: The finale of Forum Junior Chef Champ Season 3 Marathon was held at the Forum Mall, Kukkatpally on Sunday. As many as 414 children in the age groups of 7-11 and 11-15, from across the twin cities, participated in the prelims held on Saturday, where they were given 45 minutes to cook novel dishes, all the while keeping them healthy for children to dig into.

Out of the prelims round held on Saturday, 15 kids from each age group were selected for the finale. They had to present two dishes. For first dish, they were asked to cook choose between pasta and pizza, and for the second dish, they had to make a dessert of their choice. Each child got 90 minutes in the grand finale on Sunday. It was visual feast for the culinarily curious gathering to watch the children, armed with ladles and spoons in checked aprons and hats, bring out their creative best to win the coveted prizes.

Winners from first category (age 7-11) was presented MTB bicycle, whereas winners from the second category won Sony PS4. Sanjay Thumma popularly known as Vah-Chef and founder of the cooking website, vahrehvah.com, was the head jury at the contest. Lalitha Aashrita emerged the winner in the age group of 7-11 and Anushka bagged the first prize in 11-15 years category.

Forum Junior Chef Champ Season 3 is the signature event organised by the renowned Forum group. This is one of the biggest Junior Chef Championships held nationwide. This is one of the biggest Junior Chef Championships held nationwide. The event was held across 8 Forum malls in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Udaipur.

A beaming Lalita Aashrita said, "I promised my brother before coming here that I would win him a bicycle. I am very happy and proud that I won and so are my parents. I want to thank my school as well for informing me about the contest. Without them I wouldn't have known it. Everyone in my school will be happy that I won."

Anushka said excitedly: "It was a very tough competition, and everyone was doing good. I am glad that I won. My parents are very happy. I love cooking at home and usually cook for my family. My parents encouraged me to take part in this and they were the ones who believed in me and I am happy that I made my family proud."