July 2022 - May 2023
Official Sponsor
We discover how a traditional Middle Eastern delicacy becomes the protagonist of modern cuisine: a journey from Riyadh, Amman and Dubai to Milan finding the best culinary creations using dates.
AND THESE ARE THE FINAL RESULTS!
The final of The Dates Connection took place in Milan
on Tuesday 9th of May at the Italian fine dinning restaurant Don Lisander,
with the following results:
WINNER
Chef Sanjay Thakur
Braised Short Ribs With Dates
– Saudi Airlines Catering –
OTHER FINALISTS
Chef Bassam Al Jammal
Infuse Dates Cake
– Solaya, Amman –
Chef Grant Marais
Braised Beef Short Ribs in Dates BBQ Sauce
– Publique, Dubai –
Chef Andrea Baron
Fertile Crescent
– La Lanterna, Italy –
SEE THE ENTRIES FOR EACH CHAPTER
THE COMPETITION
The Dates Connection explores the many culinary possibilities of this wonderful fruit of the desert. Professional chefs, pastry chefs, bakers and culinary students will be invited to the competition to create the best dish, sweet or savory, with dates being the main flavor and the star of the recipe.
- The Dates Connection will run in four countries: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Italy.
- The participants create a short video while preparing the recipe and submit it to The Emirates Culinary Guild for publication on its YouTube channel.
- The video can then be shared with friends, followers and colleagues and the most watched and liked videos will earn extra points in the competition.
- The top 2 chefs of each country, with the exception of Italy, according to the ruling of the jury and taken into account the extra points will have a live cook off to decide the country winner and finalist.
AWARDS
International Finalists:
Certificate from Fiera Milano
An invitation to Milan with flight and accommodation covered for three nights during TUTTOFOOD 2023
Winner:
Trophy and Certificate from Fiera Milano
PROGRAM
2022
July 1:
Registrations are open for the invited restaurants and chefs to participate in the competition.
July 1 – Sep 10:
The chefs of the participating restaurants shoot a video of the preparation of their dish and send it to the Emirates Culinary Guild to be uploaded to their YouTube channel:
Voting takes place on YouTube by the general public and by 3 Chefs of the Emirates Culinary Guild. The vote of the Chefs will count for the 70% of the final result and the vote of the public for the remaining 30%.
Sep 29:
Semifinal in Amman with participating chefs based in Jordan.
Dec 8:
Semifinal in Riyadh with participating chefs based in Saudi Arabia.
2023
Mar 7:
Semifinal in Dubai with participating chefs based in the UAE.
Apr 20:
The Finalist chef for the Italian Chapter is announced.
The three Semifinalists from the Middle East receive an invitation to visit Milan during TUTTOFOOD.
May 9:
The Final takes place in Milan.
May 10:
The Winner of The Dates Connection 2023 gives a showcooking demonstration of his recipe at Taste Arena in TUTTOFOOD.
RULES
- The dish can be a starter, main course, soup, wrap, dessert or bread. One portion should be prepared.
- As dates have to be the main flavor of the dish, a minimum of 15% of the total recipe weight must be dates, which can come from any of the participating countries.
- Participants are encouraged to submit videos shot in horizontal (landscape) format and taken in high resolution. Vertical videos will not be assessed favorably.
- At the beginning the video must show the chef’s face, as well as all the ingredients, highlighting the specific type of dates used.
- The length of the videos submitted should be between 5 to 8 minutes. It can be shot with mobile phones or DSRL camera making sure that sufficient lighting is used.
- If the video had background music the submitter must make sure it is royalty-free or that the chef has secured the rights to use it.
- Videos not complying with these guidelines will not be accepted.
- The quality of the video will be taken into account in the assessment.
- Competitors can enter multiple videos if they wish.
- The recipe, list of ingredients and description of the method in English should be submitted together with the video to The Emirates Culinary Guild: emiratesculinaryguild@gmail.com
- Voting by the general public takes place on YouTube as “likes” and the final assessment is made by 3 chefs of The Emirates Culinary Guild following international standards for culinary competitions. The vote of the Chefs will count for the 70% of the final result and the vote of the public for the remaining 30%.The judges’ decision is final.
- The participants accept these rules by sending the registration form to sign up to the competition.
Important: The Dates Connection is a culinary competition and although the voting of the public on YouTube has an incidence in the final result (30%), the decisive factor (70%) is the assessment by the professional judges of the culinary value of the recipe and of the execution of the preparation.
With the support of
