Unlike other days, even at  eight on a cloudy winter morning on 3 November, 2015, Ambika Memorial Hall premise at Jhillatuli, Faridpur buzzed with a flurry of activity as hundreds of people from and around the city streamed into the compound to attend Rupchanda-The Daily Star Super Chef 2016. Ambika Memorial Hall in Faridpur  was the first of many venues and it was here that Rupchanda-The Daily Star Super Chef 2016 kicked off its journey for the third consecutive year.  

With hopes and aspiration, around 200 people of all ages thronged the counter to register for the competition which started with more than a hundred people taking an MCQ Test. Only 18 participants made it through though and came out with yes cards for the cooking round. Faisal Mahmud, marketing manager, BEOL, assigned to conduct the whole competition, briefed the cook-off round's participants with smiling face and friendly gestures inside the spacious auditorium equipped with hundreds of chairs for the participants.

In a spacious hall cleared for the program, 10 small tables equipped with two stove burners and cooking paraphernalia lined both sides of the hallroom. Two other tables were kept at one corner to provide the participants with the necessary utensils, platters, spices and some essential ingredients including potatoes, onions, garlics etc. A big canvas set at the front displayed the program logo of Super Chef-2016. The tables were also covered with a decorative banner for the
competition. 

As the cooking round started, participants scurried to collect their necessary utensils and ingredients from the tables, platters clattered, and burners hissed into life and the smell of spices filled the hall as busy hands started to mix spicy ingredients on burning pans. With great gusto, the chefs focused on the recipes. Two judges, 2014 Super Chef runners up, went round the tables to check the cooking proceedings. Volunteers and managing staff shuffled into the hall room to maintain discipline and give necessary guidelines for the competition.

Appetising smells of different delicious dishes wafted up to fill the spacious hall. Curious eyes peered into the pans and bowls to guess what delicious and succulent food stuff were there.

Each participant was allowed only thirty minutes to finish their cooking. As the bell rang, one batch of ten participants wound up their cooking session producing platters decorated with different colourful cooked items. Hearts pounding and hands shaking, the participants offered their dishes to Nasrin Hossain and Armin Sultana who, like true connoisseurs of food, tasted every bit from each item on the plate. Eager faces waited patiently to steal some clues from the facial expressions of the judges. But the mature judges left no hints to the utter dismay of the participants. As judges moved to another table, volunteers could no more resist their temptation. They picked food items that caught their fancy. This went on for sometime as the whole staff again became busy cleaning things for more eight participants.

At around 2.30 the whole session came to a close with participants still awaiting the declaration of the winner's names

All the participants for the cooking round were awarded certificates.

Winners 
Finally, the judges selected four as “Yes Card” winners. 
They are Md. Zahidul Islam of Jamlpur district, Rokaya Sultana of Faridpur, Marjana of Faridpur and Syed Rafat of Faridpur.

Faisal Mahmud, Marketing Manager of Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited conducted the events.

Among others, Sharafatur Rahman Irak, Deputy Manager of Market Access Providers Ltd and S.M. Iftekhayrul Islam Ifty, Senior Manager were present at the event.

By Amanur Aman, From Faridpur