Doha’s culinary landscape getting better: QCP chief

DOHA: The future for Qatar’s culinary industry has never looked better with numerous restaurant brands joining the fray along with many hotels in the pipeline in the run-up to World Cup 2022.
As Qatar prepares for World Cup 2022 and as part of the country’s National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030, Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has been in the forefront of diversifying its tourism offerings which include the food sector with a number of initiatives such as the Qatar International Food Festival. 
QTA has also been forging partnerships with the private sector in this regard. The upcoming Hospitality Qatar 2016 - the three-day hotels, restaurants, and cafes (HORECA) event which is licensed by the QTA, is an added value to its drive to develop this important sector.
“Doha’s culinary landscape is getting bigger and better every year as new hotels, restaurants and brands are coming here. We are very excited about the brands, restaurants and chains which are continuously coming to Qatar,” Chef Baran Yucel, Chairman of Qatar Culinary Professionals (QCP) told The Peninsula.
Chef Baran was speaking on the sidelines of a Chef’s Table gathering in preparation for Salon Culinaire 2016, which is the biggest culinary competition in the country and one of the much-anticipated features of the annual Hospitality Qatar organised by IFP Group from October 18 to 20 at Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre. For the second consecutive year, IFP has partnered with QCP in organising Salon Culinaire.
The influx of many brands of restaurants to the country signals a vibrant culinary scene and presents huge opportunities for culinary professionals.
“For sure the coming of new brands to Qatar will affect the food tradition and habits in the country. And as Qatar’s population increases, the number of hotels and restaurants also rises which is good for us because it means opening more doors to culinary professionals,” said Chef Baran.
“Our profession is based on food and food and creativity will never end. The culinary world keeps getting bigger and bigger. The trend is changing; nourishment methods are showing progress and differences,” he added.
As chairman of QCP, he expressed satisfaction of the strides made by the group in so short a time.
“QCP is a non-profit organization founded two years ago. Our community is getting bigger every year. Right now we have 450 professional chefs and 46 corporate members who are supporting us. Now we are recognized and supported by QTA,” he said. Open to anyone who have professional culinary background, QCP is a professional chefs network which provides the platform for them to interact and share ideas on culinary trends.
“Recently, we competed at the Global Chefs Challenge in Greece with support from QTA and came back with very good results,” he said.