It’s been a productive time for WACS, with even more in store during the next few months. I want to take this opportunity to share with you some of the exciting events taking place.

I’m extremely pleased to announce the introduction of WACS’ Train-The-Trainer Pilot Program. Train-The-Trainer provides a win/win scenario, matching culinary experts to the needs of other countries. Sessions explore culinary basics and principles, and we’ll assess feedback for our future wide-scale launch. The Pilot Program will initially focus on six countries, each still in the selection process. This effort is truly at the heart of what WACS stands for by uniting our skills and fostering educational and professional development opportunities for our fellow members. These efforts are made possible by the generous support of Custom Culinary.

In the coming months, watch for the announcement of our first ever Global Master Chefs Certification, the highest official recognition attainable, to be presented at the Dubai Congress.

The Hans Bueschkens Junior Competition will take place at the 33rd Congress to be held in Dubai. This exciting event will test the abilities of 20 promising young chefs. This competition is graciously sponsored by Custom Culinary.

We have also been hard at work coordinating the Women In WACS program, which provides a rewarding forum for growth and mentoring opportunities. If you haven’t yet visited this new area on the WACS website, I invite you to discover our featured Chef updated each month and made possible with the support of Unilever.

Finally, as I write this letter, our Continental Competition finals for the Americas is taking place in sunny Orlando, Florida. The competition is proving to be incredibly exciting and we are again thankful for Unilever’s generous sponsorship for this initiative.

WACS will continue to maintain and improve culinary standards of global cuisines, placing a premium on education, training and professional development. I want to personally thank you for your membership and program participation.


Ferdinand Metz, CMC

President

World Association of Chefs’ Societies

Rapport d’activité  ACJC
4e Edition
Journée Internationale du Cuisinier
 Distribution des gâteaux aux enfants PVVIH membres du Renapc
Lieu : siège du réseau

Introduction

Le 20 octobre 2007 à Brazzaville, l’Association Congolaise des Jeunes Cuisiniers a offert des gâteaux  aux enfants vivant avec le VIH/SIDA.
 A    Objectif
L’objectif de cette activité est de donner à ces enfants un instant d’amour et de joie à travers ces gâteaux question de sentir considérés dans la société. L’Association Congolaise des Jeunes cuisiniers combat la stigmatisation et discrimination faites aux personnes vivant avec le VIH/SIDA.
B     Résultats attendus
* Donner aux enfants le gout de vivre
* Intégrer la société des personnes affectées par le sida sans contrainte
* S’engager dans l’acceptation de tous
C     Participants
Les membres de l’Acjc accompagnés de leur président Honor Toudissa et les enfants membres du Réseau des Associations des Positifs du Congo en présence de la présidente, Mme Valérie Esmo Maba.
D     Méthodologie du travail
Les membres de l’Acjc ont l’habitude de travailler pour les enfants dans le domaine de la cuisine. La méthodologie utilisée est celle de favoriser la participation active des enfants. Les cuisiniers ont mit leurs compétences, leur  énergie et leur  humour au service de ces enfants.
La préparation à la rencontre a nécessité une étroite collaboration entre les membres qui ont animé avec brio et tenu en haleine les enfants.
E     Déroulement de l’activité
Une stratégie a été envisagée pour donner aux enfants  l’envie de manger à leur faim et de boire le jus naturel de fruits du pays. Une occasion offerte pour les personnes vivant avec le sida de découvrir l’association des cuisiniers  et de savoir que les cuisiniers aussi sont concernés par la pandémie.
 F    Les réactions des enfants
Sur la base de jeu de question réponse, les enfants ont joué et souhaiteraient que les cuisiniers reviennent un autre jour.
G  Forces et Faiblesse
      Forces
* L’enthousiasme des cuisiniers était visible. Chacun s’exprimait à sa guise en voyant pour la première fois ces enfants enchantés.
* Distribuer des gâteaux sans bousculade. Les enfants étaient disciplinés
* Une parfaite ambiance a régné les visiteurs et les membres du réseau.

      Faiblesses
* La mobilisation des enfants n’était bien assurée par le réseau
* Un nombre insignifiant des enfants 10 seulement alors que les cuisiniers attendaient 60enfants.
* Les cuisiniers et les personnes vivant avec le VIH ont eu le doute pour réussir la journée
H     Suggestions
* Signer un partenariat avec les Membres du Renapc
* Inviter les PVVIH  découvrir l’Acjc
I     Conclusion
Tout le monde était content. La présidente du réseau a souhaité que ce genre d’activités se reproduise.

Par : Esther PABOU MBAKI
        Attachée de Presse ACJC
        Chroniqueur Gastronomique International
        Chargée de la Communication du RENAPC

Finnish Chef of the year -competition is going to held in Gastro Fairs in Helsinki March 14.

Gastro Fair is the biggest and most appreciated Horeca Fair in Finland expecting more than 20.000 visitors from Finland and from Sweden, Russia and Baltic countries.

The arena for the competition is high standard Electrolux kitchen. It is also used for other chef challenges like Nuori Kokki 2008 (Young Chef 2008) and Bocuse d´Or national selection .

The winner is announced in the Gastro Gala on Friday 14th evening. The winner ill represend Finland in Nordic Chef of the Year -competition in Iceland 2009.   

Finnish Chefs wants to wish a successfull and happy new year to all!

The InterContinental Holiday Inn City Stars won the Egypt Food & Beverage Cup competition organized by the Egyptian Chefs Association (ECA) at this year’s Hace’07 Exhibition, held from 7-10 November. As Egypt’s top team, they will represent the country at the chef’s Grand Prix in Istanbul from 13 till 17 December 2007.
For a complete listing of winners of the various ECA competitions held at Hace’07 CLICK

The 39 World Youth Skill Competitions 2007 was hosted in Japan, Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan between 14-21 November 2007.

With over 830 competitors, 800 experts, 100 delegates, 500 observers and 1000 supporters, people drawn from over 45 member countries/regions will test themselves against tough international standards in 47 key skills and technologies.

Raising the awareness of the skills the World Skills movement has been a huge success in Numazu. Visitors from around the world and from Japan are all captivated at the magnitude of the Competition and the level of skill the Competitors hold.

Months and sometimes years of training all lead up to this day. Competitors have to strategise carefully to ensure that they met their goals. The pressure is high and the concentration is intense. Walking through the Competition site, I could see the focus written all over the faces of the Competitors. They worked hard to finish their projects but equally hard to keep their calm.

During my stay at the competition side, I have had the opportunity to observe beside the Cooking trade also the Confectioner, Bakery and Restaurant Service competition

Judging was crucial as there where only a maximum of 1gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals to be awarded per trade.

Competitors with a minimum marking points of 500 where given a certificate of excellence.

After 4 days of intense competition, the competitors anxious awaited the results for their skills.

Canada has been awarded the Gold Medal along with the Best of Nations and Champion amongst all Skill Competitors 2007.

Switzerland has been awarded Silver and Australia has secured the Bronze Medal.

As Hong Kong has competed alongside 22 other nations in the cooking competition, it was awarded rank 17.

The next World Youth Competition will be held in 2009 in Calgary, Alberta Canada

Dear Culinary Members,

As the year 2007 draws to a close, I want to extend to all those who have supported the Bali Culinary Professionals my sincere appreciation and my very best wishes for a happy and healthy new year. Our success depends to a large extent on the dedication and professionalism of the many people who work for and with BCP. We would like to wish you all a prosperous New Year 2008.

As we approach the new year, it is an appropriate moment to look back on the last 12 months and all that has taken place. Firstly was the acceptance of BCP into WACS membership, making us the official culinary organization representative for Indonesia, an achievement for us all. All of you who have strived to make this possible, we thank you. Through our appointment, we hope to be able to make a real difference in addressing the culinary challenges in Indonesia.

We have made good progress in other areas as well, among them launching of the BCP website, the celebration of International Chefs Day, and the first ever presentation of culinary scholarships to STP students. We also hope the new year will bring intensified dialogue and enhance the relationship with culinary professionals from all over Indonesia, and building closer ties to our neighbours in the Asian Regions.

If 2007 was busy, I have no doubt that 2008 will be even busier. Not least because of the WACS Biennial Congress to be held in Dubai in May. Other major events are the MLA Black Box competition in mid January and the FHT (Food, Hotel and Tourism Bali) from February 28 to March 1, 2008 at the Bali International Convention Center.

Markus Krickelberg, President of BCP

Dear All,

Warmest Greetings from oOmph!, Malaysia’s Ultimate Food & Entertainment Experience and Chefs Association of Malaysia, Penang Chapter!

Before we end the year, herewith another project completed. Attached are some photos taken during the “MAGGI Happy Family Cooking Competition” on Saturday 29th Dec 2007.

Organized by oOmph, supported by NESTLE/MAGGI for the prizes and product and CAM Penang Chapter for their stoves and 3 honorary judges represented by Peter Chan PJM, Thomas See PJM & George Chiam.

A Big Thank You to all and Wishing You A Fantastic New Year 2008

Best Culinary Regards

Peter Chan PJM

Hon-Secretary

CAM Penang Chapter



For more pictures click here

November 2nd to 3rd, 2007, the first international competition of chefs for Northern Europe called the Global Chef Challenge Semi-final, took place in Tallinn, Estonia. Sixteen countries make up this WACS Continental area and 13 of them participated in this challenge. They were Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia. The chefs from the Nordic countries did especially well; all of them finishing among the top 6.

The winner of the Challenge, who will go on to compete in the final in Dubai in May 2008, was Tom Victor Gausdal of Norway. In a close second place came Carina Brydling from Sweden and Pamela Fowlis from Scotland came in third place. Next in line were Finn, Olli Kolu, Dane, Thorsten Schmitd and Aegir Fridrikson from Iceland.

Other competitors included Kaspar Jansons from Latvia, Aldona Geèiene from Lithuania, Simon Hulstone from England, Nick Davies from Wales, Trevor Cunningham from Ireland, Jevgeni Skobelev from Russia and Dmitri Rooz from Estonia.

Although the best food and wine pairing went to Latvian, Kaspars Jansons, Baltic countries did not manage to get to the top this time. There were also prizes presented by Dansukker’s for the three best desserts and these were also won by the three chefs who won overall (Tom Victor Gausdal of Norway, Carina Brydling from Sweden and Pamela Fowlis from Scotland).

The jury members for this competition were all from out of the Northern European region. The panel was made up of Camille Schumacher from Luxembourg, Fausto Luigi Airoldi from Portugal, Yiannakis Andrea Agapiou from Cyprus and Armin Fuchs from Switzerland. Food and wine pairing was evaluated by 2 sommeliers from Estonia - Sommelier of the Year 2007, Kristjan Markii as well as Arne Pajula. Tony Jackson was there as the official WACS observer.

The overall winner received a combi oven from Electrolux as well as a large award platter from Figgjio. The winners of the three best desserts received special glass awards from DanSukker and glass dishes from Iceland. Commemorative plates were also handed to every competitor by Figgjo and the Estonian Chefs Association presented them with gift bags filled with Estonian liqueur and chocolates.

Tom Victor Gausdal, will compete against the semi-final winners from the other Continental Regions from the USA, Japan, Australia, South-Africa, Cyprus and the Netherlands at the Grand Finale of the Global Chef Challenge which takes place in Dubai in May during the WACS Congress.