The Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines (HRAP) will host the 28th edition of Chefs on Parade (COP) at the SMX Convention Center from Feb. 28 to March 3. At the recent launch at Resorts World Manila’s Passion Restaurant, COP 2013 is set to be the grandest yet. Celebrity master chefs have confirmed their attendance and there will be more attractions packed into the four-day extravaganza.
Chefs on Parade is a culinary festival with trade exhibit, cooking demonstrations, food workshops and seminars and other gastronomic-related activities. Its main highlights are the numerous competitions for students and professionals. This HRAP-initiated endeavor began in 1974 as a simple food display. Through the years, COP has become a major national event.
COP in 2011 was a huge success, with over 26,000 visitors at the SMX Convention Center. This number includes about 600 contestants from the Philippines and Asean countries, plus almost a hundred guest chefs.
“We expect the same warm response as we stage Chefs on Parade 2013,” said Philippe Bartholomi, overall chair of COP 2013. “We made a great impact in 2011. For the industry and the public, Chefs on Parade is the most important hospitality and culinary event in the Philippines. Our goal is to show the Philippines can organize a great food show.”
Department of Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez, one of the guests at the launch, said COP was one of the banner events for 2013. “Now is the most exciting growth period of our republic. Chefs on Parade is an exciting example of what must be done, because it is devoted to excellence.”
Visiting chefs
Among the foreign master chefs who will conduct demos and judge the competitions is Singapore-based Belgian chef Emmanuel Stroobant, host of the Asian Food Channel show “Chef in Black.” Two chefs from the renowned Alain Ducasse international restaurants—Jerome Lacressioniere and Marc Chalopin—will fly in from Paris for COP 2013. Alain Ducasse is a chef and restaurateur with 18 Michelin stars. Lacressioniere and Chalopin will conduct demos on French cuisine and judge COP competitions.
The Puratos Group, worldwide supplier of baking and chocolate ingredients, will bring in a master baker and a pastry chef from Belgium to support COP.
There will be a total of 30 mixology and culinary competitions on professional and student categories, four of which are new to COP: Breakfast-Making, Ice-Carving, Flair-Tending and Dream Team.
Add to all these a 286-booth trade exhibit that will feature for the first time a Wine Avenue and Artisanal and Organic Food Avenue, and the conferment of the second Larry J. Cruz award to an outstanding Filipino in the culinary field—and you’ve got a Chefs on Parade 2013 that’s bursting with yummy ideas and tasty treats!
COP 2013 is supported by sponsors De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, Meat & Livestock Australia, Nestlé Professional, Del Monte, Oleo-Fats, the Department of Tourism (DOT) and Kitchen Aid; and partners Trade Net Events and Management International, Allied Metals, Enderun Colleges, Asian Food Channel, GMA News TV, Total Gaz, Imacron, The Puratos Group, Resorts World Manila, Allegro Beverage, Liquid and Liquid Creations, Plan Z, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, Hospitality News Magazine, Olive Magazine and Flavors Magazine.
For more information about Chefs on Parade 2013, contact the Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines secretariat at tel. 8162421; fax 8162419; e-mail secretariat@
hrap.org.ph or [email protected]; visit www.hrap.org.ph/cop, www.chefsonparade.org, www.facebook.com/chefsonparade.
