They say enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity.

We need all members of WACS to share and display enthusiasm for our chefs societies. Sometimes when an organization takes a direction we do not agree with or focuses on a goal that to us personally is not important or does not make sense we pull away, we criticize we do not work together.

Just think if every single member and member country had excitement for WACS and the endeavors it partakes on now and in the future how strong a global association we can be.

Just think if every member and member country inspired others to belong, to take part in the goals and objectives and to celebrate our profession and the impotence of being with a caring focused group of global culinarians what the result could be.

Just think if everyone was motivated to ensure that WACS was all it could be and not live in the past how we can see the future., If all of us were motivated to support the leadership and then add some of that great chef creativity to assist in the challenges ahead and to assist in how we can make things better for the present and most certainly for the future then WACS would excite all members and possible members. Then WACS could grow; have new programs and new financial strength.

As the person tying to et the WACS certification off the round I could tell you first hand we spend much time discussing why we cannot do something, the obstacles in the way instead lets make this work, lets come up with positive ways to over come any road blocks and go forward.

Human beings and especially those who serve in committees, members of organizations spend to much time letting what they cannot do get in the way of what they can do.

Let’s support our president and the board in the year ahead and make some great things happen that we know will keep us going in the right direction.

For those on the sidelines or who observe and then criticize remember Don’t wait until you think everything in WACS is just right.

It will never be perfect no association or business ever is. There will always be challenges, mistakes, things to improve upon, and less than perfect conditions. So what? That is what we are all here for to contribute and make a difference. Get started now we need your support. With each step you take, WACS will grow stronger and meet is purpose to its members and the global community as well as the global culinary industry. We will all become more skilled at our craft and then contribute to our profession. WACS on a whole will become more self-confident, its members will become role players in the world and WACS will make all culinarians from every part of he world more and more successful.

In short be proud be a active WACS member!

Chef Edward G Leonard, CMC, AAC

To the World Association of Chefs Societies Members

Dear Colleagues,

After long deliberations with our members as well as representatives of WACS member countries throughout the past years and after receiving strong support, it is with confidence that the Icelandic Chefs Association announces its candidacy for the next WACS presidium.

Each person part of the team we have put together today is totally committed and is willing to invest time and energy over the next four years in the fulfilment of the role of Presidium.

Bringing new blood on to the board means bringing new ideas, new goals and new programs but we can assure you that these will only compliment the existing agenda of the current Board.

The Icelandic Chefs Association is wholly devoted to the core values of education and friendship and is confident it can make a difference within our profession through its leadership within the WACS.

We look forward to sharing our vision with you and invite you to join us and support our candidacy. We will be sending out a small brochure with more information in the next few days.

Yours faithfully,

5 Teams gathered in Christchurch, New Zealand on Thursday July 12th for the Regional Final of the Global Chef competition, the preparation for this competition had been on going since the WACS Congress which was also held in New Zealand in March 2006.

This competition was the brain child of WACS President Ferdinand Metz (USA) and it is designed to see who is the best chef in the world.

Each WACS country in the Pacific Rim have held their respective final and now teams have come together for the Regional Final with the winner going on to Dubai for the World final in May 2008.

New Zealand was represented by Darren Wright from Akaroa, and Scott Campbell from Wellington, Fiji’s representative was Ronesh Nath from Suva and Australia’s representatives were, Chris Wade from Melbourne and Shane Keighley from Perth. Each team were permitted to bring with them a student/apprentice to help with basic tasks in the kitchen.

The judging panel also has a big International flavour with Arnold Tanzer - South Africa, John Sloane - Singapore, Rick Stephen – Australia, Neil McInnes – New Zealand & Pip Duncan – New Zealand. WACS also provided an Observer for the competition Mr Graham Hawke’s.

The teams gathered with the judges the day prior to the cook off, they were greeted by the Pacific Rim’s Continental Director, Mr. Glenn Austin. Glenn welcomed all teams to Christchurch and thanked Gary Miller for his role in organising the competition as well as thanked the Christchurch Polytechnic College for the facilities. Competitors were then given a briefing and overview of the DO’S and DON’TS for the competition by the chief judge Rick Stephen, once the boxes had been seen, they were given a wine matching with food seminar and then they had to hand in their menus, teams then had the opportunity to research recipes in their own time.

On the Friday morning of the competition temperatures outside may have only been 2 degrees, but the heat was well and truly turned up inside the kitchen, competitors were given a staggered start as each course were to be put up in 5 minute intervals with a penalty of 1 point per 2 minutes late per course.

3rd place went to Chris Wade of the Point Restaurant in Melbourne – Australia. 

Chris Wade                            Appetiser

Entrée                                     Main

Darren Wright                            Appetiser

Entrée                           Main

 Sweet

1st place went to Shane Keighley from the Mullaloo Beach Hotel, Perth – Australia.

Shane Keighley                         Appetiser

Entrée                                    Main

Dessert

At the presentation, Mr. Glenn Austin thanked all participants on their fantastic effort, and passed on his congratulations to the New Zealand Chefs Association in particular the Canterbury Chef Association and the Christchurch Polytechnic, Glenn also recognized the importance of an International judging panel lead by Rick Stephen.

Overall the competition was a great success for our region, and now it is on to Dubai.

Two prominent Welsh chefs had royal appointments with the Queen on consecutive days last week.

Welsh National Culinary Team manager Graham Tinsley, co-owner of the Castle Hotel, Conwy and Nant Hall, Prestatyn, attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace with his wife Sharron on Tuesday.

It was their second appointment at the Buckingham Palace in eight months, as last December Mr Tinsley received an MBE from the Queen.

On Wednesday, it was the turn of Welsh Culinary Association chairman, Peter Jackson, co-owner of Hotel Maes y Neuadd, Talsarnau, Harlech, to meet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at a private luncheon for 10 guests at Buckingham Palace.

Fellow guests included BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner and TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

Mr Jackson, who also attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace with his wife, Lynn, last year, revealed that the invitation to the luncheon had arrived out of the blue. He was forced to decline the first invitation in April as he was on judging duty at the American Culinary Classic in Chicago.

"It was an unbelievable experience and the two hours passed so quickly," he said. "I was very nervous to begin with but they soon make you feel at home.

"I talked to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh about food and they remembered that the Welsh team had cooked for them at the reopening of the Senedd in Cardiff last month."

He said the royal invitations demonstrated that the work and achievements of the Welsh Culinary Association and Welsh National Culinary Team were being recognised at the highest levels.

Peter Jackson (left) presenting an award to Graham Tinsley - last year

The Welsh team is sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government, C&C Catering Equipment Ltd, Brakes, Unilever Foodsolutions UK, Catering Engineers (N.W.) Ltd, Hybu Cig Cymru/ Meat Promotion Wales, Gourmet Classic Ltd, Villeroy and Boch, Friedr. Dick, Germany and Snowdonia Cheese Company.

Penang Passion staged its first book talk in MPH on 8th July 2007 at MPH, Gurney Plaza. After the introduction to Penang’s indigenous herbs and spices, Tze author of Penang Passion presented Chef Sonia Lee who together with Chef Bruce Lee, introduced her creation of Hot Chocolate Mango Profiteroles to the attentive crowd. The chefs enthralled the crowd with the virtues of Profiteroles and how it can be filled with both savoury and sweet fillings to suit each individual Epicurean taste bud.Texture should be as light as air for superior profiteroles. As no one will achieve the same consistency, Chef Bruce Lee encouraged each and everyone to try their own creation and see what satisfying concoction each one achieves.

After enchanting the crowd with the delights of their creation, the chefs invited the audience for food tasting.After sampling these lovely desserts , the crowd approached me to ask all sorts of questions relating to herbs and spices.One asked about the curative properties of nutmeg and the difference between the brown nutmeg juice and the white nutmeg juice.One suggested substituting sugar for honey. Apparently pure honey will not attract ants whereas the commercial ones will. Many asked about the therapeutic attributes of these herbs and spices.

Our participating chef from the Chefs Association of Penang,Chef Bruce Lee is well known for his long established culinary centre in Culinary Art Centre, which has produced many professional chefs in this food paradise. Chef Sonia is his able assistant and her favourite pastime is none other than making great tasting desserts.

For furthur queries, contact www.penangpassion.com/contact.html

Be part of a team responsible for SIA’s famed and innovative on board meal service.Working with SIA’s caterers in Singapore and overseas, you will be part of the team which plans and implements SIA’s menus as well as supervising cost and quality control.

You should have detailed knowledge of international food and beverage, and at least 5 years experience in catering, including experience in 5 star international establishments.

Interested applicants, please click here.
We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

The Chef’s Association of Malaysia is having a three day two night education trip during the Food & Hotel Malaysia 2007. Starting on August 22,the trip takes you from Penang to Kuala Lumpur, and afterwards from Kuala Lumpur to the exciting Cameron Highlands on August 23, for visits to a butterfly farm, a tea farm, a cactus farm, as well as the strawberry park at rose valley. The trip will end back in Penang after lunch on August 24.

For reservations and more information, contact Mr Peter Chan PJM at (012) 473 3432 or email him at peterosa@pd.jaring.my. Please provide your full name and NRIC number for pre-registration. Members pay RM250 and non-members pay RM300.

John Kinsella, National President of the American Culinary Federation, will be presenting foods of the Titanic on July 24, at the Orlando World Centre Marriott.

The culinary demonstration is one of several activities planned for the four-day convention from July 21 to July 24.

Chef John will also be recreating a portion of the menu served on the night the Titanic sank, illustrating the lavish extravagance of the first class passengers and the contrasting menus provided to those in second and third class. Participants will also be educated on several little known facts about the ship’s culinary staff, its kitchen and dining room policies and practices.

For more information, visit www.acfchefs.org or call 1-800-624-9458.

Calling all Chefs,

Salam Sejahtera or Greetings from Malaysia.

The WACS Asia-Pacific Forum 2007 is drawing near. We are just about 30 days away. Many of you have not sent in your registration form. Please, do so right away if you have not done so.

To give participants an idea of what judges look for in a culinary competition, a judging seminar (WACS Judging Seminar KL 2007) will be held.

The details of the seminar are as follows:
Date : August 18, 2007
Time : 2pm – 5pm
Venue : Hotel Maya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Fees : UD$80 per person

Please register your participation before July 15, 2007 by clicking www.wacsmalaysia2007.com

All participants are required to pay the seminar fees an hour before the start of the Seminar on August 18, 2007.

The programmes for the Main Forum and that for the Junior Delegates have been changed and the new programmes are attached.

Again, please register yourself for the Forum if you had not done so. All delegates, whether invited or paying, are required to fill up the appropriate form which is on our website. You have the choice of submitting it online or you can fax it to us at +603-2093 8957. The deadline for registration is July 15, 2007.

We look forward to welcoming you to our Forum and to Kuala Lumpur.

With best culinary regards.

Dear WACS Country Member Presidents of Europe,

On behalf of the Colleagues of Tirol and President Joref Fankhauser I will end you this invitation.

The association of the cooks of Austria, section Tyrol, organizes from 16th September 2007 to 19th September 2007 an International cooking competition - "The big Cooking Contest" for apprentices and young cooks under 23. The section Tyrol requests to pass the advertising on to your members. If the participant limit should be reached, a nation choice is valid.

Please click here for the Competition Guidelines.

For more information please contact:

The vice-president Fankhauser Josef or The secretary Tauber Heinz
EMail:info@kochverbandtirol.com

With culinary regards,

Reinhold Metz
WACS CD Central Europe

I have been asked on several occassions just what is the role of the WACS observer and which area does the observer cover during a WACS approved competition.

In response to the questions it is clear that many of the WACS member countries may not be fully aware or sure of just what the observer’s role is.

First and foremost the role of the observer is to offer supportive information back to the organisers through the International Culinary Committee, which in turn will assist both competitors and judges in future WACS approved culinary events.

More specifically the areas the observer will report on are:
• The preliminary lead up to the event, covering all the information that has been sent out to the potential competitors.
• The adjudicators. ( judges)
• Briefings prior to the commencement of the event, including the judges and the team managers meeting.
• The judging sheet.
• The competition area infrastructure covering the reception area as well as the actual competition areas.
• The opening ceremony.
• The awards ceremonies.
• The dining areas where there is a restaurant to the nations.
• Accommodation for the competing teams.
• The kitchen working areas for the competing teams.
• Sale of the meal tickets.
• The service to the guests in the international dining areas.
• The judge’s rooms.
• The judge’s reimbursement and gratuity.
• Hospitality to the judges during the event.
• Statistic covering competitors and visitors to the event.
• Does the event meet the requirements of the WACS International Culinary Guidelines?
• The closing ceremony.
• Any other comments the observer sees relevant.

From there the observer’s report is confirmed by the WACS International Culinary Committee and is sent to the WACS Presidium and the appropriate Continental Director of the area where the event has been held along with the organisers.

Included in the report will be a list of recommendations of support for future shows.

Please click here for the Judges application form

Thanks,
WACS International Culinary Committee.

Aimed at improving the level of culinary skills in Jordan, Chef Markus Iten, President of the Egyptian Chefs Association conducted a Professional Culinary Arts Exhibits Workshop in Amman on June 16-17 at the Jordan Applied University. The workshop was sponsored by Nabil Company for Food Products and organized by Events UnLimited (Jordan) and Hospitality Services of Lebanon.

For photo of the event and a list of participants CLICK

This year’s most exciting competition event marks the 10th Anniversary of the National Salon Culinaire and will kindly be hosted by the InterContinental Citystars on Monday, July 23, 2007.Registration deadline is on the 5th of July.

As usual, special awards will be given to the highest individual scores, and the ECA Culinary Trophy to the best-scoring establishment. A special award will be given this year to the best Decorative Showpiece Theme related to 10th Anniversary National Salon Culinaire.

To register for the Salon CLICK
For the 10th National Salon Culinaire 2007 rules and regulations CLICK

In anticipation of the 10th National Salon Culinaire competition, the 2-day workshop Professional Culinary Arts Exhibits will be offered on July 11-13.
For further details CLICK

Singapore Junior Chefs Club’s HoTchef Team Challenge 2007 is a friendly culinary competition that once again brings all budding aspirants age 23 and below, who hunger for the excitement and exhilaration of a competition together for a little zest and creativity. The theme of this competition will be Tabasco, and competitors are expected to create Amuse Bouche with eight (08) kinds Tabasco seasonings as part of their ingredients. This competition will be on a team basis. Our aim of this competition is to offer more interaction between members, as well as to provide a venue for young talents to be nurtured.

Date of Competition : Friday, 7 September 2007

Venue of Competition : Tourism Academy @ Sentosa
12 Artillery Avenue
Sentosa Island
Singapore 099953

Regal Airport Hotel has announced that its new executive chef will be Swiss-born Hans Rudi Nussbaumer, whose illustrious career has brought him to places like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Penang. Before moving to the Regal Airport Hotel, he had spent five years with the Hospitality Industry Training and Development Centre of the Vocational Training Council in the position of chief instructor for western food preparation.

Newly uploaded on ECA’s Job Recruitment corner: The Baron Palms Resort Sharm El Sheikh is looking for experienced candidates for several positions. And an Egyptian Pastry Chef with 10 years of experience is looking for a position.

If you’re a chef seeking employment or an establishment looking for staff, our job recruitment corner has something for you. CLICK

You can place your own job ad on-line. Fill in your information CLICK and once it is reviewed by our staff, it will be published in ECA’s Job Recruitment Corner.

Menu Planning & Menu Engineering , a 3-day training workshop will be offered August 5-7. It is addressed to those working in food operations on supervisory level in charge of menu composition for restaurants, functions & special food promotions.
For further details CLICK here.

Organized by the USA Rice Federation, professional chefs from the GCC, Jordan and Egypt are being given the chance to win US$ 5000 cash by taking part in a rice competition. It needs to be a healthy dish, regardless of whether it’s a starter, main course, canapé or dessert, the one stipulation is that it includes American rice.

For more information on how to submit your recipe and have a chance to win $US 5,000 CLICK

To find some inspiring recipes or for more details about American Rice, please visit www.usariceme.com

This year’s most exciting competition event was held on Monday July 23 at the InterContinental Citystars.

As usual, special awards were given to the highest individual scores, The ECA Culinary Trophy went to Hilton Fairuz Sharm El Sheikh, the best-scoring establishment; and this year’s special award for best Decorative Showpiece Theme Related to 10th Anniversary National Salon Culinaire went to Mohamed Moussa Hassan, Junior Sous Chef at Conrad International Cairo.

CLICK for a complete list of winners.

For Photos of the exhibits CLICK to go to the Culinary Arts Gallery

The Westin Kuala Lumpur was recently recognised at the 15th Annual Malaysia Tourism Awards for its "Excellence in Hotel Services” in the 5-star (city) category held at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on July 22, 2007.

Minister of Tourism, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansur and Tourism Malaysia Director-General Datuk Mirza Mohammad Taiyab presented the award to General Manager of The Westin Kuala Lumpur, Kim Powley and Director – Communications, Tiang Li Ming at a glitzy gala dinner event akin to the Tourism ‘Oscars’ night.

The coveted tourism awards are the highest benchmark for hospitality standards in the country, with more than 500 nominees vying for 43 awards in 11 categories. Since its inception, the prestigious Malaysia Tourism Awards has given due recognition to deserving organisations and individuals in the travel and tourism industry who have extended exemplary service standards.

The Westin Kuala Lumpur impressed the judges with its exceptional quality of service, overall efficiency, courtesy and other qualities related to services. The hotel exudes a refreshing appeal, also identifying itself against its competitors by its positioning centred to titillate every guest’s senses with its philosophy – Personal, Instinctive and Renewal, that is integrated into the hotel, from design right through to execution.

“I am very proud of each and everyone for their contributions towards achieving this prestigious award. This award is not a result of one person or from a group of people; it takes an entire hotel’s team effort to get this recognition. Whether they support customers directly or provide services to the internal guests, everyone has a role to play and has made a valuable contribution.” said Powley proudly.

The hotel brand that takes pride in offering a sensory experience to their hotels and resorts is also known for consistently meeting or exceeding customers’ expectations across more than 100 locations around the world. It is widely regarded as an innovator within the hospitality industry.

The Westin Kuala Lumpur is now more than a hotel. It is a destination where guests are understood and feel that this is a place where they can be at their best. It welcomes guests to the world of Westin where individual experiences are personalised, needs are instinctively anticipated and emotions are connected by evoking the five senses.

The Westin Kuala Lumpur is also a recipient of the FIABCI Pri d’ Excellence Award 2006 in the Hotel and Resort Development Category, and FIABCI Malaysia Property Awards in the Hotel Development category for its Best Design Concept. Other awards include the Best New Hotel by Hospitality Asia Platinum Awards 2005-2006.

The Westin Kuala Lumpur is owned by JBB Hotels Sdn Bhd, and managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.