Chef Toines Smulders Of The Netherlands is The Inaugural WACS Global Chef Champion

At 3:30pm Dubai time on 15 May 2008 Netherlands chef Toines Smulders, was crowned as the inaugural WACS Global Chef. This was certainly a historical moment for WACS, as the WACS Global Chef competition is the 80-year-old organisation ’s very first and only wholly-owned competition. Chef Smulders beat challengers from six other WACS continents, who were all champions of their regional continental heats. The second and third prizes were awarded to Norway ’s Tom Victor Gausdal and USA ’s Aidan Murphy, while Singapore ’s Anderson Ho received the media judging prize. Also taking home the best food & wine pairing trophy, was team USA.

This competition took four years to materialize, and was spearheaded by the Presidium headed by Ferdinand Metz. The idea behind WACS ’ Global Chef Challenge, was to create a competition which WACS could call its own, and to showcase the highly skilled chefs of WACS from each of our continents. The two-year long process was certainly not an easy one for continents to establish. First, country heats were conducted before continental heats. Some continental directors even had a hard time persuading all of their member countries to join, given the competition ’s infancy. But it was certainly all worth the wait, as WACS members have found yet another reason to work together for the future of our beloved organization.

The 33rd WACS Congress Comes To A Close With A Dessert Outing

This was, without a doubt, the highlight event of the 33rd WACS Congress and it was an evening where everyone literally ‘let go’ — of their own clothes, that is, in exchange for traditional Arabic outfits. After a short ride out to the dessert, WACS members were greeted with two queues for the changing rooms, one for the men and the other for women, before entering the compound created for the closing celebrations. Once inside, everyone was awed by the majestic ambience and beautiful Arabic tables settings — low tables with comfortable cushions all set on the sand.

Dinner was an even more interesting sight, with traditional Lebanese food served. Most intriguing was that all the cooking was done in open-air kitchens set above the dining area. To deliver the fresh, hot Lebanese breads and carved meats down into the chaffing dishes provided, chefs actually used chutes stretching from the kitchens to the individual chaffing dishes to send the food down! Entertainment was provided in the form of belly-dancers which certainly piqued the interests of many chefs! And for the adventurous, a ride on camels was also available. And as a final treat, Cuban cigars were given out to all!

Needless to say, the evening was filled with sights to behold and it was certainly an experience of a lifetime to dine out in the dessert and even experience fireworks right at the end!