Participants show their culinary skills at The Hindu’s ‘Our State Our Taste’ contest in Puducherry

Gajendran, a fireman from Puducherry, won the fourth edition of The Hindu's 'Our State Our Taste' culinary competition. He was selected from 120 contestants with 84 dishes. Judges, led by Chef Dhamu, tasted and evaluated dishes based on taste, texture, flavour, and presentation. Minister Lakshminarayanan praised the food industry's contribution to GST. Gold Winner, The Hindu, RKG Ghee, Aashirvaad, Elite Foods, Parry's, Bambino, Coir-On, G-square, SRM, DBS, and Hotel Atithi TGI Grand sponsored the event.

A. Gajendran, 52, of Puducherry was adjudged regional winner in the fourth edition of The Hindu’s ‘Our State Our Taste’ preliminary round held at Hotel Atithi TGI Grand on Sunday.

Mr. Gajendran was selected from more than 120 contestants in the culinary competition. A fireman with the Puducherry Fire Services Department, he made 84 dishes including fish biriyani and fish fry. J. Hemalatha, 42, who made 32 dishes, was the first runner-up, and C. Latha, 40 and A. Kavitha, 41 were jointly declared as the second runners-up.

A panel of judges, led by celebrity chef K. Damodharan (popularly known as Chef Dhamu) tasted and evaluated dishes based on taste, texture, flavour, and presentation. The judges included Vivek Rai, Executive Chef, The Residency Towers, Puducherry, and Naba Kumar Saha, Executive Chef, Hotel Atithi TGI Grand. With several excellent dishes made by the participants, Mr. Dhamu said that it was hard for him to choose the winners.

Minister for Public Works K. Lakshminarayanan said that cuisines of several countries that were immensely popular across the world were available in Puducherry. The food industry was constantly growing and it had been a major contributor to Goods and Services Tax in Puducherry. The Department of Tourism had lined up a variety of events in connection with the World Tourism Day falling on September 27, he said.

The title sponsor is Gold Winner powered by Butterfly. The event is hosted by The Hindu in association with RKG Ghee, Aashirvaad and Elite Foods. The event is partnered by Parry’s (sugar), Bambino (vermicelli), Coir-On (comfort), G-square (realty) SRM (hotel management), DBS (banking) and Hotel Atithi TGI Grand (venue partner).

Senthil Kumar from Gold Winner; Sathish, Elite Foods; Anugraha from DBS Bank; Jagadeesh, Assistant Sales Manager, Butterfly and Ganesh, General Manager, Hotel Atithi TGI Grand, were present.