The Verband der Köche Österreichs (Austria’s Chefs Association), the Carinthian Chef Club and HLW St. Veit (Higher Education for Economic and Tourism) in St. Veit an der Glan, Austria partnered with At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy in Singapore to embark on a great adventure of cultural and culinary exchange. Günther Prommer, head of gastronomic department at HLW St. Veit and Kwan Lui, founder and head principle for At-Sunrice met in Dubai at the WACS 2008 World Congress and found they had common interests in expanding the culinary knowledge of their perspective faculty for the benefit of their students and local industries. They were both intrigued with the possibility of creating a cultural bridge between their two schools that would connect chefs from one school to the other to learn and share about each other’s cuisine. The plan would be complete when the visiting chef then returned to his or her home country and shared what they had learned with others; and the cycle of learning would begin and carry into the future. When they heard of the successes behind the WACS Train-the-Trainer program they realized for the first time that their dreams may come true.

With many months of developing plans and multiple communications the details of the trip were finally set. When WACS announced the return of the Train-the-Trainer program thanks to the continuous generosity of Custom Culinary™ they were ready to go.

On 1 February Chef Madeline Mueller left for a two-week visit to At-Sunrice in Singapore with the quest to share knowledge of her native cuisine and learn that of the Singapore chefsshe was looking forward to meeting. Accompanying her was chef Michael Jost who funded his own trip, and went with equal enthusiasm. Chef Mueller was impressed by the clean, serenity she found in Singapore; a mix of old and new with strict rules yet very clean and secure streets. According to Chef Mueler’s own story, she “expected the city of over 4 million people with shops open 24 hours every day and the cars, busses, undergrounds and escalators to run faster than in other mega cities, yet despite all the hustle there was a consistent feeling of calmness everywhere.”

Chef Mueller was impressed by the eating habits of the Singapore people which are completely different to her European traditions. In Singapore menus are not divided into breakfast, lunch and dinner, but offer the same wide selection of foods all day long.

The variety of people living in Singapore is also reflected in the many different styles of foods that are sold in corner kiosks and local restaurants. Chef Mueller noted “you can find the Indian cuisine in Little India, eat Chinese food in Chinatown or find the influence of Thai and Malayan cuisine.”

Chef Mueller found At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy to be a vibrant learning center with a variety of public and professional training courses. The living motto at At-Sunrice is “Advancing culinary art with integrity and meaning.” They seem to do very well at fulfilling this mission.

During her visit Chef Mueller had the opportunity to participate in Singapore cooking classes where she learned some of the local favorites including Chili Crab and a delightful Spicy Green Mango Salad (recipes in download section). There she experienced a pleasing working atmosphere in which discussion always came first and learning, understanding and appreciation were always the main objectives.

Chef Mueller demonstrated specialties of the Austrian cuisine. The most popular, according to chef Mueller, were classic goulash, spaetzle and apple strudel.

The teachers as well as the students showed great interest in the preparations, and were just as anxious to share their cuisine with the two Austrians.

Chef Mueller ended her report of her adventures by repeating these words, once spoken by the great chef Auguste Escoffier which are inscribed into a shield that hangs in the corridor of At- Sunrice:

"One can never know too much; the more one learns, the more one sees the need to learn more and that study as well as broadening the mind of the craftsman provides an easy way of perfecting yourself in the practice of your art."

Now that chefs Mueller and Jost have returned to Austria they are preparing to show what they have learned to their colleagues and to the students in their classes. Guenther Prommer has already confirmed his commitment as lead instructor of St. Veit to carrying this training well into the future.

The bridge to Singapore goes both ways. Kwan Lui of At—Sunrice hopes to send one or two of her instructors to Austria to reciprocate the learning and sharing of cuisine. Plans are currently being developed.

For more information on WACS Train-the-Trainer Program, sponsored by Custom Culinary™ please write to chefbaskette@comcast.net. Chef Michael Baskette is the program coordinator for WACS.

Download the Recipes