How School Cooks from Farkhor Became National Champions Two Years in a Row

With warmth to children and dedication to work, Dilorom Karimova and Zulfiya Alieva earned well-deserved recognition – the Best School Cook award – by turning everyday school meals into something special.

As the new week starts, the appetizing scent of fresh-baked bread and warm soup drifts through school hallways across Tajikistan. For the cooks Dilorom Karimova from School #33 and Zulfiya Alieva from School #44 in the Farkhor district, this is more than just a working routine. In the rhythm of the school kitchen, they found their voice.

The winners of the national Best School Cook Contest 2023 and 2024 – an annual event organized by WFP Tajikistan and Social and Industrial Foodservice Institute (SIFI) and designed to enhance school cooks’ competencies and encourage nutritious meals for children – agree that children’s smiles are the biggest appreciation to their work.

“Sometimes children write little verses to express their gratitude to the cook’s work – it touches me deeply and gives inspiration”, says Dilorom Karimova, the winner of the Best School Cook Contest 2023. 

Since 2022, The Best School Cook Contest has been held as part of broader WFP’s efforts to promote healthy diets at schools and enhance the nutritional value of children’s meals in Tajikistan. This event is a platform for knowledge-sharing, creativity, and national recognition for school cooks.

Dilorom remembers the first years of working at school – in the 2000s, she prepared meals for more than 400 children. To make sure that every child would receive a nutritious meal, she cooked late into the night. With a smile, she says that after 25 years, now cooking for 350 schoolchildren and her growing family of 8 children, 22 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild no longer feels like a challenge. It is simply a part of who she is.

Dilorom believes that it is possible to create a masterpiece from simple and accessible ingredients – potatoes or pulses – fantasy and practice will help. 

Like any cook, she has her culinary secrets. But there is one she freely shares — the secret to making every meal delicious and every workday a joy:

“I approach work with sincerity and put my heart into it – that’s my true secret”.

Her colleague from School #44 Zulfiya Alieva, who has become the Best School Cook in 2024, adds: 

“A cook’s task goes beyond making food — it’s about giving love and care to children and welcoming them with an open heart”.

Her career as a school cook began 2 years ago, and at that time, she had already become a high-class professional, proudly carrying her well-earned status. Cooking has been Zulfiya’s passion since childhood — and today, she brings the same love and dedication to her work as she does when cooking for her two daughters.

Zulfiya says that school cooks’ work is about children. When making a menu, she asks in advance about their preferences for the week to come. 

Her kindness is shown in every detail – the way she serves each plate, gently wipes up soup spilled by an energetic boy, and speaks to the children with calm warmth.

Zulfiya emphasizes the empowering impact of the Best School Cook Contest in diversifying school meals, strengthening cooking skills and creativity, and fostering the use of local products.

For her, the victory in the competition became an incentive for further development as a cook, while Dilorom points out that it was both an honor and a proof that 25 years of hard work had all been worth it.

Dilorom and Zulfiya genuinely care to make meals well-balanced, diversified, nutritious, and packed with vitamins. They use fresh and dried fruits and vegetables grown locally — either from the school gardens or brought in by children’s parents – and encourage other cooks to do so.

Among the many sources Zulfiya finds culinary inspiration in, the WFP Tajikistan School Meals Recipe Book is one she returns to often:

“I address the School Meals Recipe Book to find fresh ideas of what to cook for children at school and for my family, my daughters”. 

Dilorom and Zulfiya note that, after the competition, support from parents and concerned citizens has grown, as the children are now nourished by true champions of school nutrition. Yet both point out that having a school bakery in Farkhor would significantly enhance school cooks’ work.

Despite all the remaining difficulties – electricity outages, especially during the winter season, long working shifts in the kitchen, heavy pots – their faces shine with energy and motivation. 

The example of Dilorom and Zulfiya is a testament of enduring love for what they do. Their journey speaks for thousands of school cooks of Tajikistan – whose hands work early, whose hearts stay open, and whose love is served on every plate.