MARGAO: "In earlier days there was no culture of women going out for the works. Now the time has changed and women are seen in large numbers in the culinary world. I can say that the culinary world is changing and now it is dominated by the women," said director of International Institute of Hotel Management(IIHM) Goa, Shabnam Jana. She was speaking to reporters on the sideline of the 6th International Young Chef Olympiad 2020, the world's biggest Olympiad for culinary students held at the International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) at Nuvem. She further said that during my time there were hardly a few girls seen studying in the field of culinary education in India. "We must remember one thing that is women are more experienced as compared to gents. Women are also smarter than gents with regard to the technical aspects of culinary. When more educated women entered the culinary world, it gave new ways to other women. And today we can see a large number of women working in the field of culinary. This field is now dominated by women," she added. The 6th International Young Chef Olympiad 2020, has been the first time held in Goa. The first round of the competition was held on Thursday at IIHM, Goa Campus which is situated at Nuvem. The participating countries include Iceland, Thailand, Singapore, Oman, Nepal, Italy, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan and Seychelles. The judges who had travelled to Goa are executive chef, Corinthia Palace Chef Stefan Hogan, programme manager, PCD, Westminster Kingsway College Chef Paul Jervis, principal lecturer-IHM, Sheffield Hallam University Chef David Graham, executive chef Oxford, and Cambridge Club chef Stuart Littlejohn and corporate pastry chef, Hotel Leela Venture Limited chef Avijit Ghosh. Shabnam further said that IIHM is in existence for the last 25 years in India. Besides Goa, they have the IIHM campus at New Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and also in Bangkok and Ubkisthan. "This is the first that this International competition is held in Goa and we are very proud to organise this international event. A total of 10 countries have participated in the event and their representatives along with the participants have reached Goa. On Thursday we held our first round of the competition. The competition has begun on January 28 and the grand finale will be held on February 2 at the head office of IIHM. The marks of the participants will be sent to head office," she added. She further informed that IIHM provides an International platform to the young people so that they showcase their talent in the field of culinary. The five-day long competition will include three rounds of tough challenges for contestants. The prizes include a cash prize of $10,000, the Winner’s Trophy and a Gold Toque. YCO 2020 has embraced the theme of sustainability and the world’s biggest culinary extravaganza aims to show the world how to make the world a better place for future generations. “YCO brings people together and one of the biggest takeaways of YCO 2020 is that it will bring young people of the world on one platform. Sustainability is the theme of YCO 2020. It is not just about cooking, culinary presentations but also about sustainability and how you can introduce it in your institution in your country," she stated.