Dubai Knowledge Park, International Centre for Culinary Arts Launch the Pasta & Pie Mystery Box Competition

Dubai-UAE: 15 October, 2020

Dubai Knowledge Park and its business partner the International Centre for Culinary Arts (ICCA Dubai) have launched a cooking and baking competition to fire up creative talent and identify Dubai’s finest in amateur gastronomy.

The Pasta & Pie Mystery Box Competition aims to separate the fusilli flops from the choux champions by challenging baking and cooking enthusiasts alike to prepare their best fresh pasta or dessert pie using secret ingredients from a mystery box during a live cook-off at the ICCA Dubai.

Dubai Knowledge Park is a community of more than 3,000 people and 500 companies including ICCA Dubai, an internationally renowned and world-class vocational education training centre in culinary arts. The competition aims to identify the best aspiring chefs in the UAE and provide them with ICCA Dubai certified culinary courses in cookery and patisserie worth AED 35,000.

Commenting on the contest, Mohammed Abdullah, Managing Director of Dubai Knowledge Park, said: “As the region’s largest vocational training and human resources ecosystem, we work closely with our business partners to develop new and exciting ways to engage the community. Food is something that binds all of us together and through this joint initiative with ICCA Dubai, we hope participants will garner a rich appreciation for food and showcase their culinary creative flair. Dubai is home to some truly incredible restaurants that underpin the emirate’s thriving tourism and hospitality sector. All of them need talent and our community provides an environment where people can develop new skills and expand their horizons.”

Sunjeh Raja, CEO of ICCA Dubai, added: “This is a great joint initiative by the Dubai Knowledge Park and ICCA Dubai, to encourage, identify and develop potential talent within the community and in the process celebrate the spirit of togetherness and partnership in a meaningful way with the coming together of minds, culture and possibilities.”

To enter the competition, participants must submit a nice photo of their favourite fresh pasta or dessert pie dish, along with the recipe and summary of it, also a selfie with the dish. The best submissions will be shortlisted and invited to take part in the live cooking and baking showdown on Saturday 21 November, wherein each finalist will be given a mystery box of ingredients with three hours to prepare their best dish from scratch. A panel of Dubai Knowledge Park, ICCA Dubai and celebrity judges will select a winner and runner up for both categories.

The competition is now open, and registration closes on Saturday 7 November. Anyone is free to enter but entries submitted after this date will not be accepted. The shortlisted candidates will be jointly announced by Dubai Knowledge Park and ICCA Dubai on social media, with the winners contacted directly via email on or before Wednesday 11 November and thereafter will be formally invited for the Competition Briefing & Facility Familiarisation on Saturday 14 November, 2020, at the ICCA Dubai.

Enter the Pasta & Pie Mystery Box Competition HERE.