Within a month, in each of these districts, on the basis of school canteens, we hold a qualifying round, which will help determine the finalists from each region.
Competitors must prepare 2 portions of soup, hot dish and salad from the Recipe Book for school meals in Tajikistan in 2 hours.
The dishes for cooking are chosen by the jury. Dishes vary by region taking into account seasonality and availability of products. To complicate the task for the cooks, the dishes are selected by those that they are not used to cooking in their schools.
We started from the most remote region - Gorno-Badakhshan. Eight contestants prepared borsch with beans, kadushavlya (rice porridge with pumpkin) and potato salad with corn and carrots. The jury members watched the cooking process. They noted the chef's compliance with all sanitary standards and rules of work in the catering department, the ability to work with technological maps, and, of course, tasted what was cooked.
All the mistakes and positive moments the jury members spoke to the participants at the end of the event.
As a result, Sailon Surobova, representing school No. 32 of the Ishkashim district, reached the final from GBAO. She scored 47 points out of 50 possible.
Now the newly-minted finalist will have to prepare her homework - to develop a recipe for a hot dish that meets strict criteria: a maximum budget of 30 somoni per serving, only locally produced food allowed for school meals, the availability of vegetables or fruits, an original presentation and explanation why this dish should be in menu for little students.