Recently, Indian biotech company Biokraft Foods hosted the Great Indian Cultivated Chicken Cook-Off, a competition for promising young chefs.
The finalists were selected through a competitive process, and recently participated in a Grand Finale hosted at D.Y. Patil School of Hospitality & Tourism Studies. All prepared dishes using cultivated chicken as the hero ingredient; these were evaluated across key criteria such as hygiene and food waste management, taste and texture, innovation and creativity, and presentation.
The winners were:
- First Prize (₹40,000) – Isaa Patel, Patkar-Varde College Department of Hospitality and Catering.
- Second Prize (₹30,000) – Shlok Khedekar, Patkar-Varde College Department of Hospitality and Catering.
- Third Prize (₹20,000) – Vedika Sakpal, D.Y. Patil School of Hospitality & Tourism Studies.
- Special Prize for Innovation (₹10,000) – Shravan Kadam, Kohinoor College of Hotel and Tourism Management Studies.
The dishes were evaluated by Chef Altamsh Patel, Chef Amit Shetty, and Chef Ashish Thalpiya. Selected winners will be invited on a sponsored visit to the Merck Life Science facility in Bangalore, gaining the opportunity to witness cutting-edge food science.
Bringing cultivated meat out of the lab
The finale event also featured Forkward, a panel series bringing together voices from food tech, policy, and culinary innovation to explore ethics, regulation, and dining experiences in the food ecosystem. Three discussions took place:
- Plating the Possible — Exploring how chefs, food entrepreneurs, and culinary partners are rethinking what we eat and the trends that will shape the dining experience of tomorrow. The discussion was moderated by Nilesh Lele, President of CASMB, with insights from Shalini Arya, President of AFST (I) Mumbai Chapter; R. Subramaniam, founder of Freeze Fusion Foods; and Kamalnayan Tibrewal, founder of Biokraft Foods.
- Food with a Conscience — Examining how cultivated meat can serve the planet, animals, and people, while highlighting the role of NGOs in building a more equitable, ethical, and impactful food future. The panel was moderated by Dr. Ratnesh Jain, founder of ICT MRF, and featured Sneha Singh, Managing Director of Good Food Institute India; Mihir Dawar from People for Animal Public Policy Foundation; Dhiraj Tejwani, CEO of YODA; and Shreya Swaminathan, Director of Farm Animal Protection India at Humane World for Animals India.
- The Food Tech Frontier — Focusing on the space between innovation and consumer trust, touching on themes like food safety, labeling, transparency, and scale. The session was moderated by Ashwin Bhadri, CEO of Equinox Labs, and featured guest speakers Kshitij Neelakantan, co-founder of Naagin; Pravin M, previously of GEMÜ Valves India Private Limited; Arun Luthra, Managing Director at Amerging Technologies; and Parag Vachhani, Senior Expert – Regional Commercial Applications APAC at Merck Life Science.
“When we began Biokraft Foods two years ago, our dream was to bring cultivated meat out of the lab and onto real plates,” said Kamalnayan Tibrewal, founder of Biokraft Foods. “Watching these young chefs at The Great Indian Cultivated Chicken Cook-Off embrace cultivated chicken with such creativity and confidence makes me believe that the future of food in India will be not only sustainable, but also ethical and delicious.”
