Five-star hotels in the country should have a menu for Nepali food for the promotion of Nepali culinary globally, said senior chefs from Nepal. During a reception organised in honour of the newly elected working committee of the Chefs Association of Nepal here on Saturday evening, they wanted five-star hotels to promote the Nepali foods. Association newly elected President Shyam Bahadur Lama said Nepali chefs were responsible for popularizing the Nepali food and the support of hotel entrepreneurs was necessary for this.
The Association that was established in 1996 had registered the Chefs Association Foundation in 2072 BS and offers various training for culinary arts through the Foundation. As Foundation executive director Resham Lama said over 500 people have received its training. The Association has been providing short-term training on food safety and workplace safety to students of Hotel Management. Association's former president Pushpa Thapa Magar, Jeet Bahadur Lama, Shree Krishna Lama, Ratna Bahadur Thapa, Govinda Narasingha KC, Shree Ram Adhikari, Khadga Bikram Lama, among the speakers, underscored that the Association should work towards transfer of skills and creating environment for using only the Nepali chefs in the Nepali hotels. As per the statistics shared by the Association, there are currently 60 per cent Nepali and 40 per cent foreign chefs in hotels of Nepal.
Lama elected Association president The Association's recently concluded ninth convention has unanimously elected a 17-member working committee with Shyam Bahadur Lama as president for a two-year term. Thakur Prasad Poudel is the First Vice-President, Shivahari Ghimire the vice-president, Shree Krishna Gajurel the general-secretary, Hemraj Poudel the secretary and Ram Krishna Thapa the treasurer of the working committee. Likewise, members include Subarnaman Karmacharya, Binod Tamang, raj Kumar Lama, Sunil Tamang, Ram Chandra Dharel, Deepak Dhungana, Prem Thapa, Badri Khadka, Umesh Bhuwai and Ramesh Shrestha. Individuals and the Association's former presidents playing significant role in the development and expansion of Nepali chefs were honoured on the occasion.