Kitchen call

DUBAI’S FOODIES ARE in for a treat: Chef Marta Yanci has partnered with the region’s leading chefs and food experts to launch the Culinary Forum.

The Forum’s innovative format blends the best elements of a cookery demonstration with a lesson. A maximum of ten participants per session will converse with a culinary expert as well as enjoy hands-on demonstrations.

“This is a golden opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the United Arab Emirate’s finest culinary talents,” said Yanci, owner and founder of Marta’s Kitchen. “This is not about chefs leading a demonstration from a podium with a microphone; it’s about getting round a table with a highly reputed chef or culinary expert, where everyone gets their hands dirty,” she said.

Award-winning Maître de Cuisine Chef Alexandre Pernetta, celebrity Chef Sameer Miglani, food connoisseur Dima Sharif, Chef Salvatore Silvestrino of the Movenpick Dubai and Chef Marta Yanci are just some of the professionals who will share their considerable expertise with participants in the Forum.

Sessions will be held in the new Marta’s Kitchen headquarters in Dubai’s Jumeirah Lakes Towers. Chef Marta will open the programme with a session on tapas on May 15.

“Over the last decade or so in Spain, the tapa has evolved from being a simple morsel to accompany one’s drink to a little piece of theatre,” Yanci said. “In this session, I will show participants how to prepare tapas that are real conversation-stoppers. It’s really a simple way to sprinkle some Michelin stardust over your party,” she added.

One shared passion between Spanish and Italian chefs is olive oil. Salvatore Silvestrino will reveal some of this life-giving ingredient’s secrets to the Emirate’s epicures in a session on May 17. Silvestrino will show participants how to discern an Italian olive oil’s terroir in a tasting session, as well as leading a demonstration of a delicious cold and hot olive oil-based dish.

And while Chef Marta Yanci’s tapas are the perfect starting point for a dinner party, food artisan Dima Sharif will take it to the bridge with a cookery presentation of a mouth-watering entrée; homemade lobster and salmon ravioli and lemongrass velouté. Participants will enjoy the Jordan-born Sharif’s no nonsense approach and emphasis on “the method” rather than the recipe, allowing the gourmets to leverage what they’ve learnt to other dishes.

But for those looking for a less indulgent approach to cuisine, Chef Yogesh Kumar Rambhujan of Dubai’s Balance Café, will de-mystify Ayurvedic nutrition at the Culinary Forum. Also know as India’s healing cuisine, an Ayurvedic approach to eating first establishes the person’s dosha, or profile, then proposes appropriate dishes. Ayurveda is just one of Rambhujan’s areas of culinary expertise following a career focused on the clean, fresh tastes of the Pacific Rim.

“It is encouraging to witness local chefs and culinary experts’ positive response to the Culinary Forum concept,” said Chef Marta Yanci, owner of Marta’s Kitchen. “We are already working on the next set of sessions, which will expand the topics and bring together the best experts.”

For more information visit www.martaskitchen.com/forum/index.