Emmanuel Lesperance wins STA culinary competition |19 October 2017

Seventeen-year-old Seychelles Tourism Academy student Emmanuel Lesperance has secured a place in the fourth Young Chef Olympiad after clinching first place in an internal culinary contest.

Emmanuel, who is a following his first year of the food production course, came out on top against four other finalists ‒ year one Advanced Diploma in Hospitality Management (ADHM) student Delroy Duval, year one food production student Michel Louise, ADHM year 1 student Keren Songoire and food production year 2 student Alix Henri.

The others came out second, third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Their certificates were presented to them by Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA) board chairman John Stravens.

The culinary creations were judged by two judges ‒ Chef Patrick Monthy and Chef Wallace Elizabeth ‒ after the finalists spent three hours preparing their recipes using grouper fish for the starter and beef tenderloin for the main course.

The competition, which took place at the STA, La Misère, had a total of 26 students registered but only 18 took part in the elimination round.

In the elimination round the contestants were given two hours to prepare one dish using an array of ingredients such as chicken, beef and prawns to choose from.

ISPC sponsored all the products used during the three days of the competition.

The Young Chef Olympiad 2018 which will take place in India in January is expected to have the participation of over 100 nations with some of the best chefs of the world as judges and mentors.

The competition takes place in four locations ‒ New Delhi, Banglore, Pune and Kolkata ‒ over the period of eight days.

Emmanuel is expected to undergo ongoing training with various chefs to prepare him for the contest in January.

Emmanuel, who loves being in the kitchen since he was a child, said he was not expecting to win.

“I applied all the love I have to the creations I came up with and now I find myself to be the winner,” he said.

Emmanuel looks up to local Chef Marcus Freminot and wishes to become a great chef as well.

“I was inspired by Chef Freminot so I would like to thank him and my parents for my achievement.”

Chef Monthy said the winner truly deserves it as he was motivated and it could be seen through his dish.

“You are young and still in the process of learning but next time you have to do even better than what was done today. Being a chef is one of those jobs where you never stop learning even though you’ll become a great chef there’s still more to learn,” he told Emmanuel.

Commenting on the other dishes, Chef Monthy said they should have made more use of the ingredients provided to them as some of the dishes needed more seasoning.

Chef Elizabeth advised the students not to be afraid to use their ideas and products.

“If you have something in mind or certain products that you see for the first time, try to involve it as you will see the difference in your dish. Most of you tend to stick to your comfort veggies that you know (potatoes and carrots) while there were more you could have used,” he said.

STA principal Flavien Joubert thanked the judges, the sponsor, STA team, students and all stakeholders who made the contest a success.