Pakistan – Land of the Pure – is rich in heritage, weathers, and landscapes; an amalgamation of the richest flavors of life. Time and again, Pakistan’s distinct beauty has been celebrated, highlighting its true place among the eminent nations of the world. Culinary aspects of Pakistan bear no meager repute as abundant cultures and cuisines exist from the snow-capped mountains of the North, to the lush green fields of East, beaches and fresh sea produce of the South and vast dessert stretches of the West, filled with the untapped wealth of potential.
‘Pakistan International Culinary Championship’ is the brainchild of the similar thought – that the beauty of this nation’s choicest flavors and unlimited potential of its youth in culinary arts, be depicted in a manner true to PAKISTAN.
International Culinary Championship is the 5th culinary competition of local and foreign professional chefs which is approved and endorsed by the Worldchefs, Paris, France. This year, culinary teams not only from local hotels, restaurants and catering companies will participate in the championship, but teams from the World Islamic Culinary Society (WICS), and other international teams of Worldchefs member associations, will also be competing. Young chefs from mainstream schools, colleges and universities will also be competing in different categories.

Professional yet healthy competitions in a country reflect the soft image of its nation. They depict the peacefulness, tolerance and resilience of a nation. In a peaceful and beautiful country like Pakistan, COTHM Pakistan and Dubai, in collaboration with Chefs’ Association of Pakistan (CAP) and Lahore Restaurant Association (LRA) marked the beginning of a new era of professional cooking competitions in Pakistan and jointly organized one of its own kind of culinary championship under the title of ‘Pakistan International Culinary Festival (PICF) in 2016 at Al-Hamra Cultural Complex, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
This year, Pakistan International Culinary Championship (PICC-2023) will take place on March 14, 15, 16, 2023 to showcase, highlight and celebrate the prevalent culinary trends in Pakistan. The PICC-2023 is being jointly organized by COTHM, CAP, and LRA. Teams from the World Islamic Culinary Society (WICS) and other international culinary forums will participate in the PICC-2023. The three-day event will present various segments comprising: ‘culinary championship’ that will hunt culinary talent from Pakistan, ‘Food and Beverage Companies Stalls’ where different food companies will display their products, ‘Artisan at Work’ in which handicrafts of different regions of Pakistan will be displayed, ‘Conferences & Seminars’ to highlight the technical and academic side of the food in Pakistan, and a ‘judging seminar’ in which local chefs will be certified for international judging.
The spirit of PICC emanates from the idea of projecting a positive and soft image of Pakistan across the globe. The PICC-2023 will consist of three tiers of culinary competitions ranging from school children to college and university students and culminating into the competitions among the professional chefs from five star hotels, restaurants, cafes, catering companies and bakery sector.
The first Pakistan International Culinary Championship was held in 2016 initiating the journey of exploring the unmatched talent of the Pakistani chefs. The cuisine of Pakistan has its own idiosyncrasies and a depth beyond imagination. The culinary championship provides the chefs to showcase and demonstrate their unique talent and skills to prove that they are no less than any other nation on the map of earth! The crosscutting theme of the championship is to promote the Pakistani cuisine internationally.
Besides the active participation of international culinary teams, National Culinary Team of Pakistan (NCTP), National Women Culinary Team of Pakistan (NWCTP) and Young Chefs Team of Pakistan (YCTP), the festival will feature the culinary competitions, cultural performances, fun eating competitions, seminars and a judging seminar.
Such event play a vital role in promoting tourism and bringing huge foreign exchange to the country. Festivals like Gulf-food Dubai, Carnival of Venice, International Istanbul Gastronomy Festival Turkey, Cannes Film Festival Paris and ITB Berlin have become major economic contributors to the national exchequer of their respective countries.
COTHM Pakistan & Dubai CEO Ahmad Shafiq has said that the key objectives of celebrating PICC are to promote food, culture and heritage of Pakistan and develop and project the soft and positive image of Pakistan internationally. Such events, he added, can play a vital role in creating a culture of tolerance and provide people with opportunities to explore the good things happening in Pakistan.
In short, the concept of the Pakistan International Culinary Championship can play a permanent role in exploring and developing the immense talent of Pakistan for promoting the soft image of the country in the region and globally.

(Messages)

Dr. Arif Alvi
President, Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Organizing a culinary battle by the the Chefs’ Association of Pakistan (CAP) and COTHM is a good initiative. This will make our youth skilled and create in them the love of cooking. It will bring to light the young talent in our culinary industry and also make Lahori food famous all over the world. I hope that the guests at PICC after their visit to Pakistan will welcome Pakistani chefs to their countries and will never be able to forget the taste of Lahori food.