Tuesday, 26 January 2010

Concha Y Toro

In the evening we had a spectacular reception and dinner at one of Chile’s celebrated wineries, Concha Y Toro ( http://www.conchaytoro.com ), founded in 1883. Company Chairman Alfonso Larrain Santa Maria gave us a warm welcome and fantastic hospitality: Live music with local dances, a stunning horse exhibition. He literally rolled out the red carpet to an elaborate dinner outside in the warm Chilean evening. The wines were exceptional; the food heavenly, the company extraordinary. He also presented all those who attended with a beautiful hardcover book on the cuisine and ingredients of Chile.

Gissur Gudmundsson announces WACS humanitarian initiative “Chefs Without Borders”

Gissur Gudmundsson announces WACS humanitarian initiative “Chefs Without Borders”.

To expand, coordinate and promote our humanitarian initiatives, WACS will be creating a new humanitarian committee chaired by Oliver E Soe. You will be hearing more about this initiative and Gissur encourages everyone to actively participate.

Humanitarian Award presented to Oliver E Soe from Myanmar

The Humanitarian Award was presented to Oliver E Soe from the Myanmar Chefs Association, in recognition of his broad and impactful response benefitting so many less fortunate or the victim of natural disasters. The day after the terrible cyclone in May 2008 in Myanmar, together with the Myanmar Chefs Association contacted Gissur Gudmundsson to set out a plan to help. Within weeks the Myanmar Chefs Association under the umbrella of WACS distributed food and materials to the most isolated areas of the country, and cooked food for thousands of people every day.

Then the disaster in Haiti struck. Within 35 hours he contacted Gissur with an offer of 50 tons of baby food; within 48 hours he offered one million dollars of needed medical equipment. He is to be recognized for his compassion, action and impact. Chef Otto Wiebel accepted the award on his behalf.

William Bincoletto, Professional Sommelier (wineiscool.com) spoke on the Joy of Pairing – Evolution and Revolution

We pair to enhance the dining experience of our guests. Wine can of course enhance or complement the elements in food. Historical rules: Weight of wine matches weight of dish ie light white fish with unoaked, light white wine and rich, heavy meat with deep red wines. Wine can echo food flavours or contrast with food flavours. Complex wines with simple dishes or simpler wine with more complicated dishes. Components that interact (alcohol accentuates heat/spiciness); sweetness accentuates acidity/reduces perception of sweetness, fat and protein, salt and acidity reduce perception of tannin, and acidity reduces the perception of acidity.

Modern thinking: As the style of cuisine changes then the rules of wine must change, such as Nouvelle Cuisine, Fusion, Vegetarian and Molecular Gastronomy. A favourite quote of his is from Stephen Aspirinio is “If you adopt the old school mentality of wine and food pairing, you’re not only cheating yourself, but your guests as well.” Bottom line? It’s a synergy of flavours – some combinations of food and wine taste better together than either one taste by itself.

Jonoathan Bloom talks about how to reduce food wastage

Food writer Jonathan Bloom ( http://www.wastedfood.com ). spoke on Food Waste in restaurants, including kitchen waste and consumer waste. In commercial kitchens approximately 4-10% of kitchen inventory is not used. Kitchen waste matters because it creates methane (more harmful to the environment than CO2), squanders the natural resources that went into creating and shipping the food, is costly and ethically speaking, the less fortunate could use this food. He advocated the three R’s, food service style: We can Reduce waste by paying attention to our inventory, donating food to charity, reduce portion sizes and give people smaller plates at buffets. We can Reuse by repurposing unused and leftover food ie bread for breadcrumbs or bread pudding, .and Recycle by composting and feeding it to animals. He will have a book out in the fall called American Wasteland.

Dr. Jim Peacock speaks at the WACS congress about GMO

Dr. Jim Peacock, an award winning molecular biologist presented the benefits and safety of genetically modified foods. He explained that with GM plants, a new gene (or piece of DNA) is spliced into the genetic makeup of another plant. Some concerns people have of GMO foods are that genes from one species crosses over to another, the new gene might cause the plant to make a protein that is allergenic or cause illness, and that they are seen to be under the control of large Agri business companies driven by profits. GM foods have more safety tests than traditional and organic foods. The traditional way is to splice plants to one another, and select the plant with the best properties for use.

Jim noted that eat hundreds of millions of genes in every meal. EPA and DHA, beneficial to human health are present in wild fish but much less in farmed fish, that don’t eat the plants that develop those essential oils. Those genes were inserted into crops to produce more beneficial oils. Testing is ongoing and availability is around 4-5 years away. Another beneficial crop is GM Golden Rice which has been genetically modified to contain vitamin A. By adding the rice planter to use GM golden rice (that has been genetically modified to contain vitamin A), the number of children that go blind each year from vitamin A deficiency (about 800,000) could be reduced. BARELEYmax, another product has a reduced glycemic index and more than double the amount of dietary fibre.

The popularity of GM crops has dramatically increased, with 13 million farmers in 25 countries now producing GM crops.

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General Education Programme

0800 - 1700	WACS Congress 2010 Registration Casa Piedra convention centre
0730 - 0800	Morning Arrival coffee, tea and water
0800 - 0805	Sergeant at Arms call to order. Housekeeping matters for the day. Gran Salón
0805 - 0845	Continental Directors’ Reports Gran Salón Download documentation
0845 - 0900	Education Committee Report Gran Salón Download documentation
0900 - 0915	Master Chef Committee Report Gran Salón Download documentation
0915 - 0930	Marketing and Communication Committee Report Gran Salón Download documentation Multimedia: YouTube
0930 - 0945	Culinary Competition Committee Report Gran Salón Download documentation
0945 - 1000	Speaker: Candan Karabagli - Vice president Unilever Food Solutions Europe: Chefmanship for a better Future Gran Salón Download documentation
1000 - 1030	Morning coffee Area de exhibición comercial
1030 - 1100	Chilean Cuisine and its products. By Pilar Rodriguez Gran Salón Download documentation
1100 - 1130	Speaker: Dr Jim Peacock Genetically modified food. Facts, beliefs and misconceptions. Download documentation
1130 - 1200	Speaker: Jonathan Bloom - Trimming Our Waste: Why We Waste Food and How We Can Improve Download documentation
1200 - 1230	International Chefs Day Forum, The Task for 2010
1230 - 1400	Lunch Salón Manquehue
1400 - 1430	Presentation ABIC - Cooking with Coffee. Presented by Jorge Monti. WACS continental Director Americas Download documentation
1430 - 1445	Presentation of Halaal. By Federico Michieletto, President of the Malaysian Chefs Association Download documentation
1445 - 1530	William Bincoletto speaker The Joy of Pairing: Evolution and Revolution.
1530 - 1600	Afternoon coffee Area de exhibición comercial
1530 - 1700	Wine marathon The winners were Team Austria View Photo Gallery
1930 - 2300	Dinner - Humanitarian Award Evening The award goes to Oliver E Soe from Myanmar. Otto Weibel received the award on his behalf. Dress Code: Smart and Casual. Concha y Toro Winery View Photo Gallery

Junior Chefs Forum Programme

0730	Arrival at Culinary School for HANDS - ON WITH THE CHEF OF DISTINCTION
0745 - 0915	THE MLA ART OF BUTCHERY butchery demonstration by Chef Stephen Edwards (Australia) Download documentation
0915 - 0945	JUNIOR COMPETITIONS Special Speaker Chef Alan Palmer (Sri Lanka)
0945	Tea and coffe break
1000 - 1130	THE ART OD COLD KITCHEN cold kitchen demonstrations and hands - on workshop by Chef Dale Lyman (Autralia)
1130 - 1200	A CHEF'S CAREER IS HARD WORK AND REQUIRES DEDICATION - THE FOUNDATION OF WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO DO ANYTING - Special Guest Speaker Chef Murray Dick (New Zealand)
1200 - 1230	A FLAVOUR SENSATION - Jodi - Ann Pearton (SA) presents a hands - on interactive spice tasting workshop
1230	Break for lunch returning from lunch 14h00
1400 - 1600	THE ART OD HOT KITCHEN - HOT KITCHEN: A DIALOGUE BETWEEN NATURE AND THE KITCHEN, by Chefs Matias Palimo and Rodolfo Guzmán leading chefs from the region.
1600 - 1700	THE ART OF PATISSIER by Cheg Andreas Kurfurst (Dubai)
1700	Kimchi Demonstration and Tasting by guest chefs from Korea
1730	Briefing for Hans Beuschkens Junior Chefs Challenge
1930 - 2300	Dinner - Humanitarian Award Evening

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