Ruma and Chitro Neogy of the Calcutta Club USA organized the Greater Boston’s first Indian and fusion culinary contest “Cuisinier” on Saturday February 20th in Maynard, MA.  The Cuisinier contest provided a platform for all non-professional food lovers and cooks to demonstrate their skills in creating and presenting one item which they had mastered or invented. 

There was much excitement. "It was wonderful to see the variety of the creations. While some were traditional, others really did innovative things with standard creations" said judge, Anupama Jati Chopra. 

Judges included non-Indian professional chefs.  Can one judge a cuisine without having strong familiarity with the cuisine? "Yes. Professional chefs have clear criteria that allows them to judge any type of cuisine. We judge the combination of the spices, the presentation and much more" said

Natasha Daniels who came from Johnson Wales University. 

Aparna Pattewar, Ayurvedic practitioner who was one of the judges emphasized the importance of bringing the right combination for a healthy diet as per the Ayurvedic recommendations. "For example Ayurved would not recommend eating fruit and yogurt together."

Overall it was a fun event.

The winners in the various categories were:

The judges for the competition were:

Hema Gopalan, Owner, Spice Canteen

Aparna Pattewar, Ayurvedic Practitioner

Elaina Hussain, Cambridge School of Culinary Arts

Natasha Daniels, Johnson Wales University

Manas Sahu, Chef, The Curry House

Fred Bowers, World Traveler

Sunanda Pepalla, Gourmet Food Fan, Cal Club Member

Anupma Jati Chopra, Epicurean, Cal Club Member.