From the WACS Secretary General

As you read this I will be flying 23 hours from Jacksonville, Florida to Chennai, India to speak the the Indian Chef''s Association's bi annual convention. My topic is building a successful association using Education as your key to achieve that goal.

October 20th is WORLD CHEFS DAY. How will your association achieve the publicity to help WACS recognize the culinarians of the World? November 30th is the last day to register for WACS 2006 Congress in Auckland, New Zealand. Please visit their website to get further information and register please visit www.wacscongress2006.com. Nominations are due for continental directors for a four year term 2006-2010. Please e mail to my office.

L. Edwin Brown

Secretary General

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The 9th WACS Asia Pacific Forum recently concluded on a successful note. Held in sunny Gold Coast Australia amidst the sun, sand and surf, chefs from Asia and Oceania met to renew old ties, make new friends and explore fresh ideas to define the culinary landscape.

For more information, please view the WACS Asia Continental Director’s report here for the minutes or visit www.austculinary.com.au to view the pictures.

 

www.askchef.co.za is an offshoot of the South African Chef’s Association where the public can get more acquainted with the culinary landscape in South Africa and the region. Offering forums for discussions, two-way communication with industry leaders and networking opportunities, this portal features news, recipes and jobs for those who work in the F&B scene. This site is also the perfect avenue for chefs and industry workers to get information on the goings-on of the World Association of Chefs bodies in Africa – from Egypt to Rwanda.

 

The Finnish Regional Chef 2005 and Catering Masters 2005 were chosen in Tampere on 29 to 30th July. Both competitions were organized by Finnish Chef Association. The Regional Chef 2005 is Mr. Erno Tuomi from Helsinki who works for for Restaurant Mecca. The competition’s aim was to promote Finland’s regional cuisine and bring out talented cooks around the country. Catering Masters 2005 was a team competition and the winners were Ms. Kirsi-Marja Ajosenpää and Ms. Arja Kaikkonen from Helsinki.

For more information, contact Finnish Chef Association, Essi Laamanen at essi.laamanen@chefs.fi.

 

The Federazione Italiana Cuochi (Italian Federation of Chefs) is in the midst of preparing for the annual Treviso Arte Vegetali – a competition which will see 300 competitors gather on 27 to 28 November 2005.

For more information, view the press release here or email fic@fic.it

 

The members of the German Chefs Association (VKD) have elected a new president and a board of directors who will lead the association for the upcoming years 2005-2009. Ctefan Wohlfeil from Hamburg in the North of Germany follows Reinhold Metz (66) who has been VKD president since 2001 and will remain WACS continental director Europe until 2007. The 46-year-old Wohlfeil is a chef instructor at the Gewerbeschule für Gastronomie und Ernährung in Hamburg and currently leads the VKD chapter Hamburg (since 1992). Besides president, VKD’s 14,000 members also voted for four regional vice presidents as well as the members of six expert committees who are in charge of certain professional topics.

For more information, view the press release or visit www.vkd.com

 

The international media had a chance to meet the Finnish Culinary Team and taste Finnish delicacies at the Helsinki Market Square on 24th September. Finnish produce, such as reindeer, mushrooms, and fish were been chosen for the dishes to be served. Loved by Finnish people, Baltic herring has been included in this event, inspired by the annual Baltic herring fair held at the Market Square. The Idyllic and historic Market Square provided a perfect setting for displaying Finnish delicacies, as Finnish producers sell their fresh food there every day. Customers at the market also met with members of the Finnish Culinary Team who offered professional assistance in choosing the ingredients and planning the menu. The main aim of the Finnish Culinary Team with its ten members is the Culinary Olympics 2008 in Germany. To gain success, the chefs practice regularly and participate annually in competitions organized by the World Association of Cook Societies (WACS). The following chefs belong to the Finnish Culinary Team: Jyri Hänninen (Restaurant Lyon), Marko Palovaara (Valio), Sami Rekola (Restaurant Palace La Cocina), Jari-Pekka Vesivalo (Restaurant Fishmarket), Oula Hänninen (Restaurant Mecca), Kari Aihinen (Restaurant Savoy) Mikko Martikainen (Palace La Cocina), Mika Palonen (Restaurant Est 1887), Toni Rantala (Ekberg Bakery) and Juha Rissanen (Silja Kitchen Academy). Mr Rissanen acts also as the Captain of the Team. Team leaders are Jari Hämäläinen and Aku Lohimäki.

For more information, contact Essi Laamanen at essi.laamanen@chefs.fi.

 

The opening of the new Culinary Institute of Denmark was on the 24th of August. "Nordic produce and Nordic food culture reach for the skies" was the theme of the grand opening. The owners of the Culinary Institute and the Chefs Association of Danish Chefs invited five Nordic National Culinary Teams to participate in the event. These five teams prepared the grand dinner -main course for the invited quests. The task for the teams was to prepare "The best Nordic fish dish".
In the competition the teams used pre-selected seafood and shellfish, pre-selected fresh vegetables, fresh berries and other local fresh produce. Each team was composed of two or three members. The teams competed against each other and the jury evaluated the best Nordic team. This time the winner was the Danish team.

The two young Finnish chefs competing for Finland were Jussi Kumpulainen and Mickael Viljanen. Jussi works in Rovaniemi and Mickael in Pori. They are not members of the Finnish National Culinary team, but they both are distinguished National Competitors. These two chefs placed well and for both of them this contest was a great experience. They prepared anglerfish covered with crab forcemeat, lightly roasted fresh salmon, mousseline of coquille Saint-Jacques and deep fried Danish oysters. These delicious parts of the meal were served with potato-lemon fondant, warm salad of fennel and golden raisins. The whole delicious entity was crowned wit lobster bisque.

For more information, contact Kim Palhus at kim.palhus@laurea.fi.

 

The Egyptian Chefs Association is aiming to develop more workshops to enhance the skills and education of the hospitality staff in Egypt. To concentrate our efforts in line with the needs of the hospitality industry, the ECA is asking for its members to give us their highly valued input with a questionnaire, click here

For more information, visit www.egyptchefs.com.

 

The first-ever Tabasco Chefs Treasure Hunt in Malaysia is open for registration. The event will see 40 cars traverse the length of Penang where they will make pit-stops to answer questions and solve riddles in exchange for treasures. The flag-off will take place at 7am on 2 October 2005 at the PENCHEF Catering & Café Sdn Bhd and will conclude with a buffet lunch spread.
For more information, visit www.wacs2000.org

 

The Griottines® Grand Prix 2005 which recently concluded saw Harbour Plaza Hotel’s chefs Wong Wai Kan, Kan & Luk Kai Kwong, Roger taking the top prize of HK$12,000 and a trophy. Team Hospitality Industry Training and Development Centre’s Leung Yee Chung, Boris and Lam Hung Wai; and Hong Kong Club’s Eddy Luk & Benny Wong came in second and third respectively. The aim of the Griottines® Grand Prix 2005, organized by SiberHegner Limited, sponsored by Griottines® and co-organized with the Hong Kong Chefs Association (HKCA), was to encourage young professionals to work and compete in a team environment in order to display their creativity, skills and talents.

For more information, visit www.hongkong-chefs.com/griottines_culinary_competition.htm.

 

Wednesday 6 July saw the final cookoff in the Jeune Commis Chaine des Rotisseurs Competition at the University of Johannesburg, with Peter John Vadas taking the honours this year. Aged 24, Peter John hails from Knysna and is a graduate of the Warwick’s Chef School. His first position was at Parks Restaurant in Constantia, Cape Town. He continued his training at Moulin de Mougins with the legendary Roger Verge, and at the renowned Gordon Ramsay Skills Centre. He recently returned to South Africa after a three-year stint at Gordon Ramsay’s at The Connaught and is currently Senior Chef de Partie at One Waterfront at the Cape Grace. Peter flew to Atlanta on 22 September to spend a few days in a Chaine member’s kitchen, before arriving in Bermuda five days later to meet his fellow competitors from 17 other countries. On behalf of the South African Chefs Association, we wish Peter good luck and a good competition day. The finalists in this year’s national cookoff were Zillah-Jane Botha (Beverly Hills Hotel), Rico Carlinsky (Royal Malewane), Vicky Gurovich (The Michelangelo Hotel), Mark Hendry (The Plettenberg).

IGEHO 2005 will be held at the Swiss Exhibition, Basel, Switzerland from the 19 to 23 Nov 2005. The event will showcase innovative presentations as well as one of the most famous culinary competitions, the 5th Salon Culinaire Mondial.

For more information, visit www.igeho.ch

 

India’s biggest culinary event will be staged on 3 to 5 October 2005 at Hotel Le Meridien, Chennai, bringing together more than 500 delegates from around the world. The 2nd National Culinary Conference will see the gathering of some of the brightest culinary professionals in the country with a programme that includes forums on culinary tourism, food photography, restaurant interiors and food retailing, as well as the accreditation of food photography and the first ever food writing award. The IFCA is part of the regional culinary associations of India and is organising the National Culinary Conference together with the South India Culinary Association, in a bid to bring the culinary fraternity together, create opportunities for networking, expose members to the latest trends and ultimately gain enough awareness to put IFCA in a position to vie for the prestigious World Food Congress.

For more information, visit www.ifca.info

The Gourmet Voice Symposium is calling for food media to participate in its annual event, happening on 26 to 29 January 2006. The festival is a platform for food and drinks media to gather and mingle with chefs, wine experts, producers, legal experts and photographers from the world over. Together with networking opportunities, delegates will have the chance to share ideas and get insider information on the latest industry trends and happenings. The Gourmet Voice Awards will also be presented, where stellar F&B media are regaled. Media companies are encouraged to apply for the 2006 awards.

For more information, visit www.gourmet-voice.com

 

Over 6,000 suppliers and 161,000 visitors from 157 countries will be going down to Cologne to attend Anuga 2005, with 53 per cent coming from abroad. Held from 8 to 12 Oct 2005, Anuga presents the latest sector trends. All of the relevant new products and concepts are presented and discussed here - the ideal setting to showcase innovative ideas.

For more information, visit www.anuga.com

 

The eight version of ExpoGourmet will be held from October 18th to the 23rd of this year in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia’s financial motor and the heart of South America. The city has become the gastronomic capitol of Bolivia and one of the main links in the Culinary Fair circuit of Latin America. The biannual ExpoGourmet has rapidly been transformed into a large showhouse that mainly benefits the culinary profession, but also those of hotels, tourism, and culture in general. Past versions of this affair have brought to our city chef representatives from 32 countries, along with their delegatations and schools to participate in the Culinary Festival. In this three day competition, each country presented (in small portion buffet form including appetizers, main meals & desserts), the best of their culinary art for 30 people. This year we will repeat our success, expecting to increase the number of participants to over 160 national and international Chefs, Forty countries from the five continents will be represented by their most select professional chefs. Among our guests, we will have several well-known representatives from the world-wide gastronomic elite such as Yves Thuriès and others. Immersed in the activity schedule parallel to the ExpoGourmet 2005, we will have several attractive options for you, such as the VIII International Culinary Congress, conferences, cooking classes, meals (typical lunches and dinners), fellowship and culinary exchange meetings, and last but not least, television, radio, and newspaper interviews from national and international media.

For more information, visit www.lostajiboshotel.com/expogourmet

 

Come 19 to 20 October 2005 at the Hotel Le Plaza in Brussels, the Healthy Foods European Summit will be aggregating industry executives and major influencers from legislative and scientific industries for food and beverage to discuss, debate, inform and exchange ideas. The event, handed by members of the UK Food & Drink Federation will address the cutting edge of food and beverage novelty in the European market. It will also offer exclusive entrée to fresh innovations and prospective markets, insights into imminent developments and information which will help companies better comprehend the implications of the healthy eating dispute in Europe.

For more information, visit www.healthyfoodssummit.com

 

Tasting Australia 2005 will introduce a bevy of food and beverage proceedings and activities, issuing a juncture for food and beverage professionals, the media and the public to savour the sans pareil of Australia. From 21 to 30 October 2005, a multitude of events are in store, with 67 social events including cooking presentations, celebrity lunches and dinners, symposiums, tastings, masterclasses and much more. A throng of international and Australian chefs, writers and public personalities will be on deck at Adelaide for the festival as well. Chief episodes comprise of the Australian regional culinary competition (the champion wins a trip to gourmet India), feast for the senses presented by Sanpellegrino, world food media awards and other delicious happenings.

For more information, visit www.tasting-australia.com.au/tasting05

From 9th to 11th of October 2005 the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre will come alive with the WA Oceanafest 2005, showcasing some of the top chefs from around the country and overseas. It also features some of Perth’s best and well-known culinary identities. The WA Oceanafest is centred on two competitions: Restaurant of the Champions and Salon Olympia Culinaire aim to test the skills of chefs on an individual and team basis.

For more information, view the press release here.