Eng. Mohammed Al Hammadi, founder of the cooking academy, said: “The idea of launching the Academy’s project in Qatar is not only a profitable one but also aims to provide a platform for amateur and professionals cooking to create a culture of food processing for Qatari flavors. Qatari dishes that can promote Qatari culture to be inherited by generations. The academy attracts different age groups from children ages 5 to professionals. He stressed that the strategy of the Academy is keen to establish several ideas, including innovation and cooperation and create a state of entertainment mixed with educational aspects and meet the masses and the organization of workshops and courses, in addition to contributing to community programs that fulfill the role of social responsibility.
For more details about the Academy and its services, Al-Arab conducted the following dialogue with Eng. Mohammed Al-Hammadi, founder of the Cooking Academy.
Why did you choose to open an educational academy in the field of cooking even though this area is beyond your current occupation and occupation?
I grew up in a house that sanctifies cooking and considers it an art of art. I also have a passion for investment projects based on clear scientific strategies, and when I was born I wanted to open my own project. I brought together the art that I found when I was born in the corridors of our home for a large number of the family, – the Qatari cooking expert and the Qatari ambassador to the country – and my current study and work on strategies, which is interested in the work of any project based on the study and data, and study of the market and others, and hence crystallized idea of the project currently in place.
Have you faced challenges when you launched the Cooking Academy?
Certainly, the idea has existed for 8 years. In cooperation with the mother (Aisha al-Tamimi), I tried to open the academy or a cooking education institute, but the laws did not permit because there is no law in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry that allows the academy to be under its umbrella or even the Ministry of Education Education and higher education; but now the ideas have changed and become more responsive to the new creative ideas of Qatari youth. We have tried several times until the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has approved and we have a commercial license that allowed us to launch the academy as the first in Qatar.
What is your goal as well as the profit side of the project?
I have the desire to open an academic entity that will bring together professionals and amateurs in cooking, in addition to creating a culture of food processing and preserving the local heritage of the old Qatari foods. All these goals will be activated only through the cooperation of individuals and companies under a particular umbrella or structure. Cooking Academy is my current project; the Academy is trying to combine education and entertainment.
Tell us about the services offered by the Cooking Academy.
The Academy offers a range of services, including the educational aspect of children and amateurs through the provision of entertainment educational content aimed at refining the skills using different educational references through the use of modern technology as well as the achievement of entertainment. For example, attention is paid to the culture of different countries in terms of eating through interest In their kitchen and provide them with cultural information that adds to their knowledge of the country. Cooking participation in the academy will become a means of entertainment such as cinema and hiking. The family can participate in its activities.
Our services also include “networking games” offered to companies by hosting employees and preparing programs that combine them into teams that create a state of communication and break the working routines among them to get back into the working environment more actively, thus creating a state of cooperation between employees.
Among our services is that the Academy will have the ability to award an accredited diploma from the British Accreditation Center, which we will begin to grant by the end of 2019 because there is a requirement that the Academy should start its work for one year.
How much is the Academy? What is the mechanism of accession?
The Academy is an area of 1,200 meters, divided into two floors, to become a Qatari museum that serves cooking in a manner appropriate to the Qatari cultural heritage in this art, and to join it simply through training courses according to desire.
How many trainers and nationalities are there?
We have 6 trainers from different nationalities from Italy, Oman, and Qatar, and the academy is open to anyone who has experience. For example, they are members of the Qatar Chefs’ Association, which has more than 400 chefs.
What will be taught at your academy to obtain a diploma?
Those who pass the British education program for our diploma will be a professional person in the art of cooking in the first place, after which they can apply for a job in a number of different quarters, because they will have skills that are not only related to recipes and cooking, but will be more understanding of the cooking mechanism scientifically and healthily Thoughtful, while maintaining the nutrients in the foods you cook. For example, he will study the use of heat in cooking according to the food used, and materials to understand the chemistry of eating before and after cooking, packaging and other skills, and this service is specifically directed to the category of professionals.
What are the most important pillars of the strategy pursued by the Academy?
Innovation is one of the most important pillars of the Academy’s strategy, so we always strive to invest in e-ideas related to cooking. This is done through the use of innovative devices and modern applications. For example, we hosted the Qatari chef Khaled Abu Ghosoum.
There is also a meeting with the masses, one of the strategies that the Academy believes in, and this is achieved through participation in events and festivals such as the Qatar international food festival
And what about honing the capabilities and skills of those who join the Academy?
In this regard we focus on the interest in knowledge, which is also one of the pillars of the strategy that we are pursuing, by honing the abilities and skills of children and amateurs enrolled in the Academy. We attract children from the age of 5 years to be able to interact and communicate with the trainers and provide them with knowledge. The children who have a passion for cooking after meeting us, where he opened the YouTube site and learn more about cooking skills and a number of recipes.
What about Qatari dishes in this project?
It certainly occupies the greater part of the Academy’s strategy and project to preserve Qatar’s heritage through the marketing of Qatari dishes as part of the local Qatari culture and its transfer to other countries and cultures, a very important aspect that we seek to focus on.
Finally, will the professionals have a role in this project?
Of course, the concept of cooperation will be solidified. We have the desire to create a state of cooperation between professionals and amateurs, and this is what we have achieved by attracting amateur cooking and choosing their recipes to be under the umbrella of the cooking academy and motivating them to be active members of society.
2000 meals a day with a project «Kitchen»
Engineer Mohammed Al-Hammadi said that the project “Kitchen” is a separate project under the umbrella of the Academy. It has a special team of 9 professional cooks with experience and great sales in the cooking profession. “We will have more than 2000 meals per day by the end of this year, Currently, the energy of this project is more than 400 meals a day.
He explained that this project also comes within the objectives pursued by the Academy in the coming period.
Some prisoners teach cooking skills
“We are launching a new program in cooperation with the Qatar Red Crescent Society,” said Mohammed Al Hammadi, founder of the Culinary Academy. “We will teach some prisoners in Qatar cooking skills so that they can look for a job if their sentences are over, More productive community. To achieve the safety component, those whose sentences are far from criminal cases will be chosen to provide security for the Cooking Academy team.