Jobaida Begum of Ctg gets first prize

Square Consumer Products organised the "Radhuni, Rannay Shresthatter Lorai" competition in association with Channel I, a private television channel and Mediacom, an event management firm.

SK Das, director of Square Consumer Products, inaugurated the first session of the programme.

Of the 20 thousand contenders from all over the country, five were elected for the final from two categories: Traditional and Creative. They cooked two items- "Amish" and "Niramish" yesterday.

Following the judgment of over one hundred people, including Siddika Kabir, Keka Ferdousi, both renowned culinary specialists of the country and Dr Shahin Ahmed, a nutrition specialist, Jobaida Begum from Chittagong was awarded first prize with 20 tolas of gold while Nasreen Jahan from Rangpur and Selina Nasreen from Faridpur jointly stood second and received Tk 50 thousand each. Nurjahan Begum from Jessore and Razia Sultana of Jhalkathi got third prize with Tk 25 thousand each.

Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed, Managing Director of Channel I Faridur Reza Sagar and SK Das distributed crests among the winners.

"We tried to glorify the remarkable diversity of our traditional recipes", said Siddika Kabir, a developer of the competition. "We tried to inspire the women folk whose brilliance of art in cooking has remained latent for long".

A daylong fair was also organised on the occasion where about 25 stalls took part to showcase the cooking ingredients and utensils.

At one corner of the hall, Alam Sarkar and his musical group performed Baul song. Decorated banners containing recipes like Kacha Kolar Chaler Vorta, Narikel Dudhe Dim Amra and Kumra Patar Ilish Puli were hung from the balcony of the first floor.

Later, Subir Nondi, Fatema-Tuz-Zohra and a Gomvira group from Rajshahi performed songs at a dazzling event in the evening. Channel I broadcasted the full programme live.