Access forbidden to the public, twenty tables separated and aligned, a centimeter implementation near, 57 people to be exact, not a single empty chair and yet, an eloquent silence, this is a first in Tunisia.
Room is archicomble and everyone is exactly where it needs to be. Everyone wears a badge, it seems that each person has a specific role, not the trace of a nuisance.
Uniformed cooks waiting to be served, all points to it being a competition. The first Tunisian contest of local products. A contest that took place on November 29, 2017 at the Tunis Science Palace.
White tablecloths, black curtains, costumes, ties and “chechias”, an authentic but typically Tunisian touch. The emotions conveyed by the words of welcome prove that there was a preparation and a hard work before this moment, the long-awaited moment, that of marking the beginning of the contest.
The presentations are made for serious things, 19 tables and each table has three people, three different profiles, a producer, a specialist and a consumer per table. The evaluation sheets are distributed everyone is impatient, eyes on the curtains and it moves, the first products starts to come out, each product has a code marked on a label, each table is numbered, everything is studied.
A first look at the product carefully placed on the table and curiosity wins all faces. The most curious starts, they begin to touch, to hold the products, to feel them, to compare them, the juries begin to taste and the first impressions are difficult to hide. The members of the juries of each table consult each other and discuss the texture, the smell, the aroma, the taste, the general impression, every detail counts.
A few meters beside, another table, another category of product, other colors and another discussion, and we also taste. Fruits, floral waters, honeys and cheeses.
Precision and organization are obviously the keywords of this contest. Everything seems computerized, actually not very far from the tasting tables the organizers are gathered at all from a computer station, with the help of software that supervises the distribution of products by table, the heads of the panels are tasked to do so that everything is in order and take the trouble to check a second and third time before the products are placed on the tables for the ultimate tasting moment.
There is no sign of anything unforeseen, it seems like it took months and months to organize everything, every detail has been carefully considered to ensure that every minute goes exactly as planned.
The selection of products, the choice of tasters, the supervision of the tasting, the distribution of the tasks, the logistics, all this required a lot of human resources. Indeed Mr. Marwen Chikhaoui, one of the pioneers of this contest says that everything has been managed by very good executives of administrations and the preparations of logistic began since August 2017.
350 candidates took part in the first selection based on the approval of the products. Only 272 products were selected for the tasting phase, they have been received for a week.
Back at the tables and at the competition’s stage to follow this crucial tasting stage, the products were rested after having been carefully tasted and examined, place to the pen and the evaluation sheet. Everything is annotated with accuracy, we avoid being neither too generous nor too severe,
Only 30% of the products will be awarded.
The cards are collected and classified, the verdict has finally fallen and it will be announced on December 8. A date that will certainly speak about this first contest in Tunisia but also elsewhere and products that will be decorated.
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