With the Presidiums' speeches, Continental Directors' reports and committee updates all out of the way, there was only one thing left to decide. Which country would win its bid to host the 2010 WACS Congress? Would it be an easy majority, or would the fight come down to a final vote between two closely ranked countries? The question had been on everyone's lips since Monday and this morning, a decision had to be made.

Voting slips were handed out, proxies verified and then the ballots were cast. Continental Director Arnold Tanzer took the lead in ensuring everything proceeded smoothly then he and Board members, Ed Brown and Norbert Schmidiger, headed off to count the votes.

Each bidding delegation was all ready to pop the bubbly when Tanzer returned and took to the stage. But the celebration had to wait; no one country had achieved a 51 per cent majority vote. Xi'an, China and Colombo, Sri Lanka were out, leaving the fight to Santiago de Chile and Prague, Czech Republic.

Tanzer and his team repeated the whole process and when he walked back in for the second time, the country that will host Congress 2010 had been decided. Tanzer left it up to fellow South African, Honorary President Bill Gallagher to make the final call. “For the first time,” Gallagher said, “We are going to Latin America.”

And the Chilean team celebrated their victory with a burst of hugs, smiles, shouts and jumps of joy. And as a generous gesture, the Chilean team offered runner-up Prague a consolation gift— Achiga, Chile's WACS association, will sponsor all the accommodation costs of Prague's chefs' association President when he goes to the 2010 Chile Congress.

On that high note, the business session of the 32nd World Association of Chefs' Societies Congress came to a close. Still to come, the Gala Dinner (Did you pack a tux?) sponsored by Unilever Foodsolutions on 16 March Thursday. Watch out for a host of awards to be given out as well as the announcement of the winners from the Hans Bueschken's World Junior Chefs' Challenge.

*Want to review the day's speeches and presentations? Look for the speaker's name or presentation title on the programme below and click on the links. Where available, we have included the PowerPoint slides, voice and / or video recording.*