Students from the College of International Hospitality and Tourism Management (CIHTM) bagged three gold medals and one silver medal at the Inter School Competition – Young Hoteliers’s Exposition (YHE) 17th Manila Foods and Beverages Exposition (MAFBEX) 2023 held in the World Trade Center, Metro Manila last June 14 to 18.
In the Category of Going Guiltless: Inter School Competition where participants modified the recipes for a pineapple upside-down cake and cheesecake, Marianne Hebreo, John Benedict Gonzales, and Caori Quiras coached by Chef Ruby Ann Mendoza won the gold medal.
Meanwhile, at the Quenched Inter School Competition under the category of Food Wars: Battle of the Universities, Michael Bitong together with Kaila Olarte were the first runner-up whereas Joseph Ylagan and Rommel Torralba were crowned champions, coached by Miss Jocelyn Dimayuga and Miss Jean Mendoza.
At the Back of the House competition under the same category, Shaira Marie Austria, Lawrence Ivan De La Cruz, and Cryztine Jia Gutierrez coached by Chef Pamela De Leon were declared as champions.
Likewise, Riana Allaine De Silva and Malcom Costales coached by Chef Patrick Henry Maravilla also won the gold medal at the Front of the House competition, under the Food Wars: Battle of the Universities category.
In an interview with Dela Cruz about the preparations that they did for the competition, he said they would always use fresh raw meat in every practice and trained themselves to cook within one hour even though the timer for the actual competition is one hour and 30 minutes.
“Ang masasabi ko lang sa mga other culinary students who aspire to be chefs ay keep going lang sa mga pangarap nila … and pag may mga opportunity na tulad ng MAFBEX ay i-grab agad nila,” Dela Cruz added.
With the theme “Fully-Loaded Flavors”, MAFBEX 2023 featured activities like business matching as well as different cooking competitions such as flair tending, quenched, baking and cake decorating, and foodwars.
Article by: Jennilou Gonzales and Hozi Granada
