PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
A PERSPECTIVE ON WOMEN CHEFS

In every culture, women as mothers and nurturers have played a pivotal role in turning basic ingredients into palatable if not delicious and nutritious meals. While men hunted and fished, women cultivating food and developed knowledge, techniques and unique methods of preparation and preservation while providing nourishment for the entire family.

Through the centuries women were responsible for cooking at home, while men became the dominant players in the professional culinary field. They entered it by first being assigned to feed their fellow soldiers, then honing their craft and eventually claiming cooking as their profession. The profession was regulated by guilds from which women were excluded since, by law, they could not own property or control finances and therefore could not inherit or purchase a position within the guild.

With men being so prominent in the culinary field and establishing hierarchies, it is easy to forget that mothers and grandmothers were their first teachers. Most of us keenly observed and even participated as children in our mothers’ food preparations. Our contemporary open kitchen concepts speak of our longing for the sense of community among the women in the kitchen while they prepared feasts. We remember the great dishes that our grandmothers or mothers put on the family table, culinary delights that shaped our palates and evoked memories of comfort foods, family gatherings and just plain good times. Even if women were not the first authors of cookbooks as most were not educated to read or write, they became prolific writers once they acquired those skills. Recipes that were formerly passed down verbally from generation to generation, were collected in writing by women for women Some of the most well-known cooking schools in the world were initiated if not founded by women: among them Le Cordon Bleu cooking classes and The Culinary Institute of America.

Today, as women strive to have both professional careers and a family, we are at a turning point as we see more and more women entering culinary schools and ultimately the foodservice industry. We all share the obligation to create and maintain an environment that allows women chefs to pursue their dreams of doing what they truly love. This process must be based on mutual respect and a deeply rooted belief that the promotion of women in the culinary profession is not only the right thing, but the only thing to do.

I congratulate all those women and men who have had the vision and courage to effect fundamental changes in the stereotypical perception of women’s roles. They are the pioneers and leaders, who pave the way for future generations We are entering a new era.

Ferdinand Metz
President
World Association of Chefs’ Societies

With the final Award Ceremony a great and fantastic Festival of Culinary Arts came to an end.
As the Continental Director of Central Europe but also on behave of the WACS President and the entire WACS Board I would like to say my very best thanks:

• to all the Competitors from around the world, without them, a Culinary Worldcup like we have mentioned it here in Luxembourg can not be happened, as well

• to the Organizing Committee with our very good friends from the Vatel Club Luxemborug and its President Armand Steinmetz and the colleagues Alessandro Haab, Jerry Kreigel, Jules Blau, Carlo Sauber, Asloyse Jacobi, Camille Schumacher, Gaston Faber with all their volunteers like the Vatel Club Lady Brigade. You all have done a excellent job to the best of Culnary Art. Thank you for your great hospitality and frienship.

• also, I like give my thanks to the International Jury for their hard, but as I mentioned, always objective work and markings.

to G. Gudmundsson, Iceland and Euda Morales, Guatemala who were managing the WACS Booth and to the Icelandic Fotografer Jon Svavarsson and Gudjon Steinson for making Pictures for the WACS website every day.

At least to the Messe Luxembourg, all the friendly people of the City and to the Sponsors, Hotels and Instituions which where helping our Competitors to be able to prepare their Culinary Exponats.

I look foward to see some of you at the next WACS approved Shows like in February 2007 at Scothot in Glasgow and at least at the IKA / Culinary Olympics in 2008 in Erfurt, Germany.

I also hope that a few of you will get prepared for the Continental and Final Competiton called WACS Global Chef Challenge, which will become also a great event from WACS.

My personal thanks are goining to a gentleman, who is not only the Vice President of WACS but also a participent at this Culinary Worldcup, thank you Ed Leonard.

"Keep on cooking"

Reinhold Metz
WACS CD Central Europe

14-18 FEBRUARY 2007
ISTANBUL INTERNATIONAL GASTRONOMY FESTIVAL
4th EDITION

TÜYAP BEYLIKDÜZÜ
ISTANBUL / TURKEY

ISTANBUL INTERNATIONAL GASTRONOMY FESTIVAL CALLING YOU TO THE SYMPHONY

Meeting of Tastes Where Two Continents Meet…

The nature of making people to embrace each other, of tourism can be proven in particularly gastronomy with material examples. Those events that gather food cultures of various countries, make great contributions to
world-wide spread of tourism.

We are sure that dear Tony Theuma, having great contribution in realizing Istanbul International Gastronomy Festival gathering the most important chefs of the world, would be very touched if he had seen the level that the contest has reached.

Cuisine professionals of the most important and leading tourism facilities of Turkey are competing with each other for exhibiting their talents by participating to the contests. Our chefs also get results in foreign countries that make us proud and come back with successful ranks from the contests.

Istanbul International Gastronomy Festival to grow every year and to have a successful and effective feature must be evaluated as the success of the tourism sector of Turkey.

COMPETITIONS IN 2007

Categories of the Championship

The competition will be held in 2 categories for the juniors and seniors.
The competition will be composed of two different sections as display section and practical theatre.

Know more about the Senior Display Programme

The Calendar of the Championship

The deadline for the applications : 1st January 2007
Fixing and announcement of the competitors : 25th January 2007
The opening ceremony : 15th February 2007
The championship days : 14th – 18th February 2007
Prize Giving Ceremony : 18th February 2007

Download application form here

Organization Committee Provides
Folloving Opportunities to Competitors;

• Free accommodation in 3*/ 4*/5* hotels on BB basis,
• Transportation;
- 25 % discount from Turkish Airlines
- Transfers from airport to hotels and from hotels to venue
• Modern exhibition complex
• Facilities designed in detail;
- Modern kitchens
- Necessary equipment
- Wide display area
- International judges
- WACS qualified judging

Click here to read more about the rules and regulations, as well as the judging criteria.

The seven-member Singapore National Culinary Team arrived home on Friday evening after winning two gold medals in the Culinary World Cup to many cheers from family, friends, the press and of course, Minister Teo Chee Hean, Minister for Defence and President of the Singapore National Olympic Council.

The team emerged second runner-up in the prestigious Expogast 2006 Culinary World Cup held in Luxembourg earlier this week. The team bagged a total of two gold medals in the hot cooking and cold display categories. “This year’s competition was keen. Every team was all set to win glory for their country, and so were they. Their three-course menu for the hot cooking category that is Asian-inspired and prepared using European cooking methods, proved to be one of the most popular with the judges and guests”, said this year’s team manager, Randy Chow, Executive Chef of Mount Elizabeth Hospital Ltd.

Team Captain, Edward Voon, Executive Chef of Cannery Leisure Pte Ltd, commented, “Our team has spent many months planning, preparing, practicing and perfecting the dishes that were showcased at the competition. It was sheer hard work as the team had to devote many hours training and fine-tuning the dishes. But it was all worth it, and we are happy and proud to win glory for Singapore again.”

The last day in competition at Luxembourg was exiting for every team, some of the big countries in the world had got gold both in hot and cold and now everyone was waiting for the final scores from the last day, but no one know anything before at the closing ceremony on Thursday morning, about 5 teams are compete about the over all price.

I had the pleasure to have dinner on Wednesday with the military team from Sweden and Team Milko the Swedish girl team, Team Milko is the only culinary girl team in the world, the dinner was at Lea Linsted restaurant and we got a warm welcome, it was a pleasure night with the team end se the spirit they have, the girls got silver for there work as a regional team from Sweden and the military team got two gold.

At the closing ceremony I talk to Euda Morales from Guatemala, she has been hear for 5 days to se how thing goes in the competition like this, she has a dream to see Guatemala team coming to Ika in Erfurt in 2008. She can see that this competitions have a different standard from what is happening in South and Middle America and that is an important for teams coming from this part of the world to see first what is happening in a competition like this.

At the closing ceremony Armand Steinmetz thanks everyone for the great days we have had together and welcome all again in 2010 to ExpoGast. It has been hard days for the chefs from Vatel Clup in Luxembourg but it has paid of, guests and teams are happy and pleased for the welcome they have got in Luxembourg.

Reinhold Metz continental director of Europe Central thank the Vatel Clup for their work on behalf of the WACS board and all the teams for the great effort they have put in to the culinary work.

The ceremony is now over and the final scores are like this:

National Team
1st - Norway
2nd - Sweden
3rd - Singapore
Junior Team
1st - Switzerland
2nd - Germany
3rd - Italy
Military Team
1st - Switzerland
2nd - United Kingdom
3rd - Germany

This is my last mail from Luxembourg and I like to thank my friends from Iceland, Jon Svavarsson and Gudjon Steinsson that have take over 6000 pictures and work hard sending pictures to WACS everyday, we hope that this will give chefs around the world opportunity to see what have been happening here. Big thanks to Vatel Clup for giving us a space to have the booth at the show and the Bank Kaupthing for loan us TV and computer so we could show the WACS website to chefs everyday. I like to say thank to the website team from Singapore for the great work you have done for WACS, without your help we will not have the possibility to present us like we have done for the last days.

With regards from Luxembourg

Gissur Gudmundsson

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Scores from the last day.

Norway in Hot got Gold

Sweden in Hot got Gold

Slovenia in Hot got Bronze

Switserland in Hot got Gold

Malta compete only in Hot kitchen, not cold and they got Bronze

Military team in Hot

Franc, Silver

Germany, gold

Juniors team in hot

Czech, silver

Luxembourg, bronze

Date: 02 - 05 November 2006
Venue: Gallagher Estates, Midrand
Book at Computicket (083 915 8000)

Based on the outstanding 22-year success of their three-year In-Service Apprenticeship Programme, HTA has designed a professional cookery training programme to meet the need to assist core staff to achieve a qualification in a shorter period of time. The 1-year HTA programme will allow your cooks to learn while working; with only a 2-day Block Release module per month, over 12 months. The course covers all theoretical and practical components necessary to achieve a recognised Certificate in Food Preparation & Culinary Art.

To register your staff on this programme contact Liezl van Tonder on (011) 285-0937

The MLA Black Box Culinary Challenge 2006-2008 will take place on 28 and 29 November at the Grand Hyatt in Cairo, Egypt.

The main sponsor, MLA-Meat Livestock Australia, has organised over 50 Black Box Competitions in the Asian region since 1996. In this competition, the teams - consisting of a team manager, three chefs and three waitrons - are presented with a box of identical ingredients from which they have to cook a four-course menu consisting of a soup course, a fish course, a meat course and a dessert within one hour.

For competition rules and registration forms visit the ECA website at www.egyptchefs.com.

On the 1st of October 2006 I accepted the position of Resort Executive Chef at Fancourt Hotel and Country Club Estate. I have always known that my career would somehow be involved with food. From a very early age, my family have been guinea pigs for my "creations" Whilst in high school, when ever there was a performer or musician doing a show at our Local High School (the town only had one in Lydenburg), I would stay home to prepare dinner for them and the whole family, as the school always put them up in my Mom’s House.

Food has always been a central role in my life. My grandmother used to cater all the golf days and church functions and my Mom has owned two restaurants. She currently owns the only 5 star guest house in the Witbank/Middelburg area, so high standards have always come naturally to me. I believe in keeping things simple and allowing the natural flavors of food to come out. So many people make the mistake of taking, for example, a beautiful piece of fresh fish and adding all kinds of rubbish spices and heavy sauces to it. Keeping it fresh and simple, with clean lines is what I am all about

After returning from 2 and a half years in London, I joined Fancourt in November 2000 as a sous chef. Fancourt has 17 kitchens, ranging from a rugby field size banqueting main kitchen to small half way house kitchens. The resort employs more than 600 permanent employees and in excess of 75 chefs. I started running our fine dining restaurant Bramble Lodge and a highlight was opening up from scratch, our hugely popular and award winning african themed restaurant, Zanzibar. I was also heavily involved in the re-opening of our seafood restaurant Le Pecheur, with a full sushi bar. In November 2003 I was promoted to Exec Sous Chef. I actually left Fancourt in January of 2006 and was asked back to accept the Executive Chef position. A recent highlight was our annual fancourt Ball for 380 high profile guests. Fancourt is owned by German billionaire and previous SAP Chairman and his wife, Dr Hasso and Mrs Sabine Plattner. They fully carry the cost every year of putting on this spectacular in aid of George Child Welfare. This year we raised R1,75 million It was really fantastic to get a rating of 9 out of ten for the food, from the notoriously difficult to please, Gwen Gill. For this function we flew in 20kg of fresh foie grass, 40 kg of fresh diver scallops and 1 kg of fresh black truffles from France. The cost to us per head was just under R500.00 per person.

I love playing golf when I get the chance and I am in the right place as we have four of the best golf courses in the world, right here on one estate. I also love fishing and spending time in nature with my two dogs, London and Paris-who is a completely blind Pekingnese, but the love of my life. Fancourt to me, is the centre of the universe. It is the most beautiful resort I have ever seen and to be in the nicest surroundings in the world, just never gets tired. Fancourt recently won the "Best Resort in the world" award and is the standard that others follow.

Dear WACS Colleagues,


Now that Day 4 of Expogast is coming to an end, everyone is getting exiting for the overall prize. Clearly, a few countries are in the front but tomorrow (Wednesday, 22 November) will give the final overall winner. The competitions have gone well; teams have performed well both in Hot and Cold competitions showing great high standard international food that every chef can be proud of. All this is part of the great work WACS has been working on for the past year. The Vatel Clup in Luxembourg has done a great job for both judges and competitors.

I just talked to Kurt Weid who is judging in the hot kitchen, I asked him how the level of this competition was and his reply was that the level was high, all the top teams around the world was here and this was without any question the crème de la creme, and its clear the big competition for everyone is going to be Ika in Erfurt 2008.

Kurt says at the same time that the organizing of this competition is good, the kitchen is of high standard, teams are happy with their working areas in hotels and restaurant around the Luxembourg, all this makes teams get better performance in the work they do.

Kjetil Gundersen is judging in regional cold tables and his opinion of the standard is that he is impressed, he is surprised of the performance of some of the teams that have not represented their countries before but still he can see that some countries need to put more thinking into the work, but the final conclusion for one of the youngest judge is that everyone is doing international standard food at a high level.

I also talked to Geoffrey Acott who is judging the military hot kitchen, he say the kitchen is definitely the best military kitchen he has been judging in, they are modern with all the right equipment needed in today’s kitchens. The teams are making food that is in line with the national restaurant in nations and its nice to see this happen, it shows the ego and quality of the chefs working in the field. At the same time having the national team and the military team working so nice and close together is that military team are learning a lot from the national teams and we hope that national team will learn from the hard work our chefs work in.

With regards from Luxembourg,
Gissur Gudmundsson

Dear WACS colleagues,
Yesterday we had the opening ceremony of Expogast 2006; it was nice show and presentation of the teams followed with some beverages and food.

Today the show is opening and WACS booth is ready, this is the first time WACS has a taken part in an International show like this where we have a booth to present WACS. We are happy that one of the big Icelandic banks in Luxembourg named Kaupthing has loaned us a big plasma TV screen and computer so we can show the WACS website to chefs from all over the world.

The first day the national team from Netherlands, Israel, Hungary and Scotland had the cold buffet and the jury was judging from 10:00 to 13:00. In the hot kitchen than we had Portugal, Malaysia, Belarus and Singapore, its nice to see new member countries like Belarus in the competition, this is their first international competition and we wish them good luck.

The first day is like a family reunion, lot of colleagues from all over the world are meeting each other again and making new friends. This is what WACS and competitions is all about.

Regards
Gissur

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Below is the results for Day 1 at glance:
Military Team (Cold)
Hungary - Silver
Luxembourg - Bronze

Juniors Team (Cold)
Israel - Silver
Portugal - Bronze

National Team (Cold)
Netherland - Silver
Scotland - Silver
Hungary - Silver
Israel - Bronze

For more news and photos gallery, please visit the link HERE.

Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers is proud to be one of the first five-star hotels to achieve this HACCP certification in Asia Pacific. Conducted by BSI Management Systems, one of the leading certification bodies in the world, the accreditation was completed in September, 2006.

The recent outbreaks of food crisis, such as Chicken Flu, Mad Cow Disease, Sudan Red in sauces and condiments, Malachite Green in Fish…etc, food safety has become everyone’s concern. At Sheraton, we care about that and have implemented a system called Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) to minimize and reduce the chances of food borne illness to our customers and associates who are dining at the Sheraton Hong Kong’s establishments.

What is HACCP

HACCP is a world recognized, systematic and preventative approach that addresses microbial, chemical and physical hazards by anticipating and preventing incidents before they occur.

The HACCP concept, developed by NASA in the 1960’s for space missions to prevent astronauts from contracting a food borne illness, is a step-by-step approach to the identification of food safety hazards and risks associated with each step of the process. This includes purchasing, receiving, storage, preparation, cooking, cooling, reheating, food display, transportation (in room dining) and washing up.

There are seven principles of HACCP, they are as follows:
- 1./ Conduct a hazard analysis. Potential hazards associated with a food and measures to control those hazards are identified. The hazard could be biological, such as microbial; chemical, such as a toxin; or physical, such as ground glass or metal fragments.
2./ Identify critical control points. These are points in the production/preparation of food – from its raw state through processing and shipping to consumption by the consumer – at which the potential hazard can be controlled or eliminated. Examples are cooking, cooling, packaging, and metal detection.
3./ Develop critical limits. For a cooked food, for example, this might including setting the minimum cooking temperature and time required to ensure the elimination of any harmful microbes.
4./ Develop monitoring procedures. Such procedures might include determining how and by whom cooking time and temperature should be monitored.
5./ Develop corrective actions. For example, reprocessing or disposing of food if the minimum cooking temperature is not met.
6./ Develop suitable record keeping. For example, testing time-and-temperature recording devices to verify that a cooking unit is working properly.
7./ Develop verification procedures. This would include records of hazards and their control methods, the monitoring of safety requirements and action taken to correct potential problems. Each of these principles must be backed by sound scientific knowledge: for example: published microbiological studies on time and temperature factors for controlling food borne pathogens.

Hotel’s commitment to food safety

The HACCP certification process takes approximately twelve months and involves substantial training and implementation of HACCP policies and procedures including systematic documentation, analysis and process verification.

To ensure consistent compliance to these standards, third party audits are conducted by BSI Management Systems twice a year. This high level of compliance can only be achieved if emphasis is placed on building a hygiene culture. Management commitment and involvement is a must, since food safety can risk being neglected due to the costs and the amount of paper work involved, and the need for consistently monitoring the food handling activities.

The successful accomplishment of HACCP at the hotel has signalled a shift in emphasis from resource-intensive product inspection and testing to prevention control of hazards at all stages of the food production. This is considered a cutting edge tool of management to serve the best quality of food for our guests.

EXPOGAST-Culinary World Cup 2006

EXPOGAST-Culinary World Cup 2006 is organised by the Vatel-Club Luxembourg takes place from Nov. 18th to Nov. 22nd 2006.

Registration:
can be made online only through www.vatel-club.lu / World Cup / Online registration.

Guidelines for each category of participants are posted on the website www.vatel-club.lu/ World Cup / Reglement and may be downloaded by PDF

Registration deadlines are:
February 01st 2006 for National Teams, National Military and National Junior Teams; July 01st 2006 for Regional Teams and individual exhibitors.

Competition programs are Culinary Art: A and B;
Pastry: C
Culinary Art : D ( Showpieces /Centerpieces ); D1 Cold food; D2 Patisserie

25 National Teams, 10 National Military Teams and 10 National Junior Teams will be competing the challenge of the Culinary World Cup 2006. About 34 to 38 Regional teams and some 400 individual exhibitors will be judged by confirmed international WACS judges.

About 1000 cooks from the five continents are awaited to compete, as for Expogast – Culinary World Cup 2002 many more than 900 cooks have taken part in this event, 46000 visitors have been able to admire our cooks culinary skills.

The winners of the Culinary World Cup 2002 have been:

National Team: Sweden
National Military Team: Switzerland
Youth Cup Germain Gretsch : Scotland
Regionalteam: Culinary Team Alberta
Individual pastry: Urs Regli, Switzerland
Individual cooks: Burlak Lesia, Canada

A new Nordic Council of Ministers’ project is to raise the profile of Nordic food, cuisine raw materials and products in an increasingly globalised food and travel market.

The Nordic Council of Ministers’ ”New Nordic Cuisine” project is designed to spread knowledge of Nordic raw materials and food culture.

The Ministers of Food gave the idea their backing during the summer in recognition of the fact that not enough is known about Nordic raw materials and products and that they do not enjoy an identity of their own. Nordic cuisine consists of simple, safe and tasty products. Spreading the word about it will also boost the Nordic ’brand’ in an increasingly globalised food and travel market.

Project activities will include promoting understanding of the individual countries’ agricultural and fish food traditions, promoting Nordic food products and cuisine and expanding the market for them. It is also designed to promote the unique characteristics of Nordic food and food production and make a Nordic impact global level.

"This project will also help make the Nordic Region more competitive internationally," project manager Finn Børre Stokholm of the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, said. The project runs until the end of the year.

Announcement!

Chefs Association of Malaysia, Penang Chapter is proud to Congratulate the winners of the Gold Award for the China Xi’an International Gourmet Exhibition 2006 held from 18-20 October 06.

Our team of 12 chefs leaded by Chef Peter Chan PJM presented culinary delights of 6 Southeast Asia countries, namely Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam & Malaysia. All teams were awarded the Gold Award for their wonderful presentations.

Team members consist of:

 

1. Peter Chan PJM
   
2. Franco Ho PJK
   
3. Andy Oh PJK
   
4. Tomas See PJM
   
5. Adolf Tan PJM
   
6. Lee Chan Wai
   
7. Anthony Lim
   
8. Daniel Tan
   
9. Choong Shen Thin
   
10. Yew Seong Lip
    
11. Chun Pek Cheng
    
12. Kuet Ean Ean

     

A Taste of Egypt at SIAL 2006 Paris In cooperation with Expolink, the Egyptian Chefs Association sent three Egyptian chefs to the annual SIAL exhibition in Paris. The chefs were proud to participate in a successful promotion of Egyptian foods and products, giving visitors a taste of authentic Egyptian food culture.

Chef Hany Hamed Badr Hamed, sous chef at InterContinental City Stars Cairo, chef Ali Mohamed Ali Shalaby, demi chef de partie at Semiramis InterContinental, and chef Maged Aiad Farag, sous chef at Khan El Khalily Restaurant, accompanied by Mrs. Jacqueline Jampen, member coordinator at the ECA, cooked up a delicious selection of Egyptian specialties for guests to enjoy. From Koshari and Molokheya, to Broadbean and mixed Baladi salads, visitors were coming everyday to enjoy their favorite Egyptian foods and drinks.

As Egypt was the country of honor at this year’s SIAL exhibition, the booth was surrounded by music and dancing, as well as much excitement, with the chefs joining in the festivities with typical Egyptian songs. Some guests enjoyed the foods so much that they inquired about how to prepare it themselves!

In all, forty-six Egyptian companies exhibited in Paris this year with a wide array of products such as herbs and spices, olives and olive oil, pickles, dairy products, rice, cereals, biscuits and juices, frozen vegetables, among others; while the hall was abuzz with buyers coming from all corners of the world to see for themselves the quality of Egyptian exhibits. Expolink, The Egyptian Exporters Association, is a national initiative jointly funded by the Government of Egypt and the European Union to help develop international competitiveness in the private manufacturing sector in Egypt. More details about this event are available on our website: http://www.egyptchefs.com/etSial.asp

The Icelandic Chefs Association proudly presents the Icelandic Candidate for Bocuse d´Or 2007, his name is Fridgeir Eiriksson.

A press conference was held at Hotel Holt on the 1. of November where Fridgeir and his coach Philippe Giradon presented for the press and sponsors their ideas in created courses from the announced products, witch are Norwegian flounder, King Crab and Bresse chicken. Furthermore a video about Fridgeir and his road to the competition was premiered. The theme for the 2007 competitor is the Vikings, as can be seen on the poster.

The Icelandic Chefs Association has set up a tour to Lyon and hopefully there will be many Vikings in the town of Lyon during the competition.

For more information, click here

For the first time ever in Egypt, the MLA Black Box Culinary Challenge will take place on 28 and 29 November, 2006. The winning team will receive trophy for hotel and smaller version for team members, as well as gold medals. Above all, the team will also fly to Dubai to represent Egypt - all expenses paid, including air travel, accomodation and spending money - at the world final, which will be held during the 2008 WACS Congress. For complete Rules and Regulations CLICK here.

For the first time ever, the ECA is organizing a live cooking challenge for teams at this year Hace exhibition. Teams of hotel, restaurant, airline catering establishments are invited to compete for the prestigious Egypt Food & Beverage Cup 2006 by showing their skills in everything from table decoration, cooking methods, presentation of foods and taste, to hygiene and team cooperation. Click for rules and regulations.

During my holidays, I had the chance to visit an local oil factory, “Haindl Mühle Ölpresse” in Kalsdorf, near Graz in Austria. The business is run by family Haindl for nearly 80 years with a lot of success.

Therefore, I thought that it could be interesting to all Chefs to discover, or not, how oil is traditionally produced.

Producing oil by pressing, hot or cold, is an old system, used already long time ago by the Greeks. The system has been improved over the Centuries, but the principles are still the same.

First of all, only top quality pumpkin seeds will be chosen for the oil production. After a long and
sunny summer, pumpkin seeds are mature and ready to be removed from the fruit/vegetable. In the past, this was done manually, but nowadays, this is done mechanically.

The first step is to “dry” the pumpkin seeds, in order to remove the excess water, but also to concentrate its flavor. This variety of pumpkin seed used in Steierland does not have a shell and can be eaten as it is, flavored with salt, sugar, cinnamon, etc.

After, the pumpkin seeds will be removed, and transferred into a pipe, where it will be filtered and unwanted “particles” removed.

The pumpkin seed will be then grounded and well mixed will a bit of salted water.

Next, the pumpkin “paste” goes back under heat, where it will be “roasted” or “toasted” until it reaches its full flavor, at a temperature of 80 *C. The water added earlier will avoid the “paste” to stick and burn on the bottom and the salt will increase its flavor and specific aroma. This process will be done slowly, under low heat. Once ready, the “paste” is removed immediately.

The pumpkin seed “paste” moves to the final step. It goes into a press, where the oil will be extracted, under a few tones of pressure. At this stage, we obtain two products, which can be used: a dark green oil and the remaining pumpkin seed, which look like a dry cake, with a water content lower than 1 %.

The so called “cakes” can be used in the kitchen as a replacement for walnut or almond for the confection of cakes or tarts. And the pumpkin seed oil of course to enhance dishes. This type of oil should never be heated and strictly use to enhance food items and for the confection of cold dishes.

More information about the “Green Gold” can be found on internet (available in German), at the following address: www.haindlmuehle.com.

Last but not least, many thanks to Willi Haider (www.kochschule.at) who kindly organized the visit and of course to Alois and Hanna Haindl, for their kindness and hospitality.

Dishwashers are the way to go if you comply with two simple criteria. “Run a dishwasher only when it’s full, and don’t rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.” So says John Morril of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, who also advises not using the dry cycle. The water used in most dishwashers is hot enough, he says, to evaporate quickly if the door is left open after the wash and rinse cycles are complete.

Scientists at the University of Bonn in Germany who studied the issue found that the dishwasher uses only half the energy, one-sixth of the water, and less soap than hand-washing an identical set of dirty dishes. Even the most sparing and careful washers could not beat the modern dishwasher. The study also found that dishwashers excelled in cleanliness over hand washing.

Most dishwashers manufactured since 1994 use seven to 10 gallons of water per cycle, while older machines use eight to 15 gallons. Newer designs have also improved dishwasher efficiency immensely. Hot water can now be heated in the dishwasher itself, not in the household hot water heater, where heat gets lost in transit. Dishwashers also heat only as much water as needed. A standard 24-inch-wide household dishwasher is designed to hold eight place settings, but some newer models will wash the same amount of dishes inside an 18-inch frame, using less water in the process. If you have an older, less-efficient machine, the Council recommends hand washing for the smaller jobs and saving the dishwasher for the dinner party’s aftermath.

New dishwashers that meet strict energy and water-saving efficiency standards can qualify for an Energy Star label from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Besides being more efficient and getting the dishes cleaner, qualifying newer models will save the average household about $25 per year in energy costs.

Like John Morril, the EPA recommends always running your dishwasher with a full load and avoiding the inefficient heat-dry, rinse-hold and pre-rinse features found on many recent models. Most of the appliance’s energy used goes to heat the water, and most models use just as much water for smaller loads as for larger ones. And propping the door open after the final rinse is quite adequate for drying the dishes when the washing is done.

Florence Luk from Jebsen Wines is looking for a few Innovative Australian Chefs to create new cooking ideas with their new to launch wine brand, please contact Florence directly at florenceluk@jebsen.com

The new ECA Quiz is out! All ECA members are eligible to win an ECA voucher worth LE250 towards the purchase of any ECA merchandise or simply earn points towards a free membership renewal. For your chance to win CLICK

Check out the latest addition to the ECA Bookstore, books related to health conscious food selection and preparation to meet your guest growing wish for wholesome foods. CLICK for more information and prices.

WELSH CHEFS ’FANTASTIC AMBASSADORS’ SAYS FIRST MINISTER

Immediate: November 10, 2006

First Minister Rhodri Morgan has described the Welsh National Culinary Team as "fantastic ambassadors" for Wales and the nation’s world class food.

He was speaking at a special reception held at the Senedd in Cardiff to wish the team success in the prestigious Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg, which begins next week.

Mr Morgan said Welsh food had been transformed in the last five years due to a combination of the culinary skills of Welsh chefs and outstanding ingredients from Wales.

"Welsh food has really taken off and it is down to you in the way that you prepare and present the food," he told the chefs. "You have been really fantastic ambassadors. You will be carrying the Welsh flag in Luxembourg and I know that you are going to do well."

Presiding officer Lord Elis Thomas thanked the team for making itself available for Royal visits, various opening ceremonies and events of all kinds organised by the Welsh Assembly.

"The Welsh National Culinary Team and the National Assembly for Wales make a fine team," he said. "I would also like to thank the chefs for raising the standard of the hospitality industry and food in Wales."

The reception was hosted by Janet Ryder, Plaid Cymru Assembly Member for North Wales, who said: "We have high class chefs working with high class food in Wales and they are helping to sell the nation to the world. It’s very important that the Welsh Assembly gets behind the team and every venture that sells Wales on the international stage."

Team manager Graham Tinsley, co-owner of The Castle Hotel, Conwy and Nant Hall, Prestatyn, thanked Mrs Ryder for organising the reception and Assembly Members for attending. "Without your support we couldn’t carry the Welsh flag in Luxembourg," he said.

Currently ranked seventh in the world, the Welsh chefs are hoping to repeat the gold medal success they recorded at the Culinary World Cup four years ago in their first major competition as a national team.

Like the soccer and rugby World Cups, this competition is held every four years and it’s second only in prestige to the Culinary Olympics. The Welsh team competes in the hot kitchen competition on Saturday, November 18, serving up 120 covers to diners.

The second part of the competition is a cold buffet table on Tuesday, November 21, which involves creating a variety of culinary art display dishes around a central theme.

Mr Tinsley said there was a nice blend of experience and youth in the Welsh team selected for the Culinary World Cup and the mission was to bring back gold medals and improve the team’s world ranking.