Culinary skills earn Chennai boy four 'Olympic' medals

CHENNAI: For the past seven years, Yeshwanth Kumar has been spending six hours a day in the kitchen - carving fruits and vegetables, creating food sculptures and cooking. And in February this year, his efforts paid off as the 16-year-old won four silver medals at the IKA/Culinary Olympics 2020, held in Stuttgart, Germany.
The oldest, largest and most diverse international culinary arts competition in the world, the IKA/Culinary Olympics is held once in four years. "The last time I participated, I won the fourth place in fruit and vegetable carving. So I spent the last four years preparing for this Olympics, and even went to the Czech Republic, China, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam for advanced training," says Yeshwanth, who won silver medals in four categories this year - classical vegetable and fruit carving, live vegetable and fruit carving, artistry made from pastillage and gum paste.
To participate in the Culinary Olympics, chefs have to go through a parent organisation such as South India Chef's Association (SICA) or the Indian Federation of Culinary Associations (IFCA).
Teams from any recognised culinary college or institute are eligible to participate.
"Participants have to bear the ticket fare and pay the registration fee, which is 100 euros for each event. Once they are there, the food and accommodation is taken care of," says chef Damu, president, SICA, which felicitated Yeshwanth and gave him Rs 1 lakh as a token of appreciation. "Last time, seven teams from India participated but this time, though four teams were supposed to go, only Yeshwanth participated from India because of the coronavirus threat and also the expense involved."
Yeshwanth's love for the culinary arts began at a very young age as his father, Umasankar Dhanapal, is also a chef.
"I used to watch him teach students and was inspired to take it up as a career," says Yeshwanth, whose father began training him from the age of nine.
"I represented India at the Culinary Olympics in 2012 and won a bronze for fruit and vegetable carving," says Umasankar, who along with Yeshwanth participated in the 2016 event also. "I again won a bronze in the same category while my son came fourth," he says.
Encouraged by his parents, Yeshwanth also gave up regular schooling and did his Class X through NIOS.
"The dates of the Olympics and the board exams would have clashed, so I did it through NIOS and scored 401/ 500," says Yeshwanth, who competed with 2,000 chefs from 70 different countries.
"I want to be the world's best chef. People specialise in cooking or baking but I want to be an all-rounder and keep going back to the Culinary Olympics till I win 100 medals," he says.