|
Held from 23 to 26 May 2004 in Seoul, Korea.
Present:
WACS Director Asia
– Frank Arne Naesheim
WACS Director Pacific
– Glenn Austin
Members
| Min Su Kang - Korea |
Petriea Hirabayashi - Japan |
| Woung Seon Moon - Korea |
Norafandi Abd. Malek - Malaysia |
| Sang Jung Lee - Korea |
Joshua Er - Malaysia |
| Choon Sup Han - Korea |
Peter Lim - Malaysia |
| Grace Moon - Korea |
Oliver E.Soe Thet - Myanmar |
| Lee - Korea |
Gopalsamy Murday - Mauritius |
| Heung Ho Shin - Korea |
Lam Kin Cheung Yean - Mauritius |
| Soon Ja kim - Korea |
Marco P. Bruschweiler - Thailand |
| Taehyung Thomas Kim - Korea |
Roger Sayce - Australia |
| Kim Sook Hee - Korea |
Grant Jackson - New Zealand |
| Kang Byong Nam - Korea |
Mohammed Faruk - Fiji |
| Wang Jiagen, Sec of CCA - China |
Eric Teo - Singapore |
| Gao BingYi - China |
Jasmin Ng - Singapore |
| Kunihiko Seto Sec/Gen - Japan |
Alan Palmer - WACS Life Time Honorary
Member |
Absent with Apologies:
– India
– Indonesia
– Philippines
– Hong kong
– Sri Lanka
Minutes Recorded By: Hugo Ernst Schwarz, Assistant
to Frank A Naesheim
Sunday
23 May 2004 |
|
Follow Up
(Where Required) |
| 5.00pm |
Registration at the Forum
at Capital Hotel |
|
7.00pm – 9.00pm
|
Welcome dinner by Korea Cooks Association
(Dress Code: Smart) |
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| Monday
24 May 2004 |
|
Follow Up
(Where Required) |
| 7.00am |
Breakfast at Capital Hotel |
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| 8.30am – 9.00am |
Delegates arrive at the forum venue:
Shilla Room, Captial Hotel |
|
9.00am
Official Opening
of the Forum |
Welcome Message #1
by President Kang Min Soo of the Korea Cooks Association
translated by Ms. Lee.
(full version available in Appendix
A)
· Greetings on behalf
of 140 million Korean cooks and chefs
· WACS Asia Pacific
Forum more significant this year as it is held on
the eve of the Seoul
International Food Expo 2004
· Many ingredients
in Korea as it is surrounded by the sea on three sides
and has four seasons.
· Korean food widely
known as healthy food that is rich in nutrients and
low in calorie count.
· Because WACS was
established as a non-political non professional organization
and is
dedicated to maintaining
and improving the culinary standards of global cuisine,
members
need to have a
better understanding of WACS and enough information
to strengthen ties
between member
countries.
· It is very easy to
introduce one’s culture to another country, but
with food, many people have
difficulty describing
subtle differences between cuisines. Therefore it
is a pleasure that a
delegation of
chefs have come to our country, and its our hope that
you will take time to
introduce Korean
food culture to your countries when you go home. |
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| 9.10 am |
Welcome Message #2
by Mr Glenn Austin, WACS Continental Director for
the Pacific
(full version available in Appendix
B)
· This is my first
forum as a Continental Director in South Korea.
· With the new WACS
falling in place, in the 1st meeting we all agreed
for the duration of this
board are emphasis
will always be on Food, Education and Members. If
we cannot agree to
align what we
currentl y are doing to one of these three things,
we need to answer the
question “why are
we doing this?”
· In this opening speech
I will be communicating to you the main points that
our new WACS
president, Mr
Ferdinand Metz, wants to share with all members, although
between Mr
Naesheim and myself
you will probably hear it twice.
· Food industry is
about continuous learning - the day that we think
we know everything is the
day that we should
lay our tools down for we have truly lose sight of
the industry.
· Listen to the speakers
over the next two days and then share the knowledge
with your
colleagues so
WACS can grow to become the global knowledge base
which we can all learn
from.
· Pledge of the new
administration is to steer the members countries to
begin the process of
transforming WACS
into a professional organization without losing the
fraternal bond which
keeps us together.
· Not an easy task
as WACS is a global organization of 70 countries and
about 8 million
cooks and chefs. In order to fulfill
this plan and realize our potential as an organization
we have to
think globally.
· That means we must
apply this question as we contemplate any new initiative:
Is it good for
WACS? Is it good
for our region? If yes, then we are doing the right
thing, if no, then please
try to apply the
global thinking principle.
· No longer good enough
to meet each year and engage in debates on administrative
issues
and
at the same time
hope that this will attract sponsors / provide professional
development
opportunities
for all members.
· We have to focus
on the issues that are really important and the suggestion
that has been
given to us is
the concept of C-H-E-F, which stands for: CUISINE,
HOSPITALITY,
EDUCATION AND
FOOD. (elaboration in Appendix
B)
· The WACS board has
made a firm commitment to measure all of its activities
by how well
they promote the
concept of C-H-E-F and I encourage all of you on the
local, regional,
national and continental
level to do the same.
· You will see this
concept reflected in the program in the 2005 Australian
Forum in the Gold
Coast.
· Final request: please
keep an eye on the website for the valuable information
that you may
need and please
stay in constant contact with Mr Naesheim and myself. |
|
| 9.20 am |
Welcome Message #3
by Mr Frank Naesheim, WACS Continental Director for
Asia
(full version available in Appendix
C)
· I am very honoured
and most humbled to be elected the new Continental
Director forWACS
in Asia. I take
this new assignment very seriously, and I strongly
believe in the new direction
Ferdinand Metz
has outlined.
· I love Asian food
and have the deepest respect for Asian cooks. In the
afternoon session and
tomorrow morning
I will outline some ideas of how we can promote Asian
food and cooks
within WACS.
· Asia is the most
interesting and diversified food continent on earth.
But Asia is not that good
at organising
itself or marketing its products.
· My advice to Asia
will be to never lose track of your tradition and
Asian flavors. Learn from
the Europeans
how to make systems and organise yourself and learn
from the Americans
how
to promote
and market the world's best food.
· Then you will fulfill
my vision and outshine everybody. You will then be
able to carry the
flag that says
“World Authority on Food”. I believe you
have the potential to do that.
· My goal with this
meeting is to pass on the message from Ferdinand Metz
and find some
Asian initiatives
and perspectives, in order to present a ommon goal.
· My final goal is
to stand at the door and shake hands and look in the
eyes of each and every
one of you at
the end of the forum and see committed eager faces
who will bring this message
to your association
members. I want to see that ‘sparkle’ in
your eyes.
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|
| 9.30am |
Introduction of participating
countries
Singapore:
· Jasmine Ng
Secretary Singapore
Chefs Association & Chairman Singapore Junior
Chefs Club
· Eric Teo
Vice president,
Singapore Chefs Association.
Myanmar:
· Olivier E Soe Thet
President, Myanmar
Chefs Association, thanks for the invitation to be
here .
Malaysia:
· Norafandi Abd Malek
Secretary General
Chefs Association of Malaysia
· Peter Lim
General treasurer,
Chefs Association of Malaysia
· Joshua Er
Public relations
officer, Chefs Association of Malaysia
WACS representative:
· Alan Palmer
Honorary Life
member of WACS
China:
· Gao BingYi
Vice president,
China Cuisine Association
· Wang Jiagen
Deputy Secretary
General, China Cuisine Association
Japan:
· Hisatoshi Utsunomiya
Vice President
all Japan Chefs Association (AJCA)
· Kunihiko Seto
AJCA Secretary
General
Thailand:
· Marco Bruschweiler
President, Thailand
Chefs Association.
Mauritius:
· Gopalsamy Murday
President, Maurtitian
Chefs Association
· Yean Lam Kin Cheung
Secretary, Maurtitian
Chefs Association
Korea:
· Choon Sup Han
Executive Chef
Capital of Host Hotel and Korean Chefs Association
· San Jung Lee
Executive Sous
chef JW Marriot Seoul & Korean Chefs Association
· Miss Grace Moon
Fiji:
· Mohammed Faruk
Treasurer Fiji
Chefs Association
Australia:
· Roger Sayce
Chairmain, Queensland
Chapter of the Australian Culinary Federation
New Zealand:
· Grant Jackson
Vice President,
New Zealand Chefs Association
Other Guests:
· Kim Sook Hee, Professor
at the Korean School of Hotel Culinary Arts
· Nelly Lim, assistant
to Prof. Kim
· Kang Byong Nam, Professor
at the Korean School of Hotel Culinary
· Am chon He Su, student
at Kun Kim University
· Toehyung Thomas Kim,
Vice President of Chinaware factory ( sponsor)
· Soon Ja Kim, President
of Han Sung Food (co-sponsor)
Assistants:
· Hugo Schwarz –
Assistant to Mr. Frank Naesheim
· Lee Hey – Translator
|
|
10.10am
Forum Business |
Report by Frank Naesheim
· Will try to make
it not too formal
· My report will be
a follow-up to the assignments and duties that President
Metz has set for
me and all other
WACS leaders.
· For practicality,
I have split the Asian region into three sub-regions:
South Asia/ South-East
Asia, and North
Asia.
· My assistants in
Singapore will be Hugo Schwarz and Josephine Gwee.
· Alan Palmer is here
representing WACS more so than Sri Lanka. As many
of us are new
leaders, we need
somebody with us who knows the history of WACS, and
Alan Palmer has
come forward to
help.
· Reads out Ferdinand
Metz’s message (see Appendix
B) |
|
| 10.30 am |
Report by Glenn Austin
· The Pacific Rim is
the smallest continental directorship in WACS with
3 member countries,
but its not so
much the size as what you do with it.
· Australian Culinary
Federation (ACF) webmaster, Paul Moor, has created
a Pacific Rim
webpage,
as well as a web page for each country, but we need
to obtain more information
about what is
happening in each country – events, meetings,
chefs who are traveling and
would like to
catch up, etc.
· My role as continental
director is not limited to regional responsibility.
I am still the national
president for
the ACF, manager of the culinary team participating
in the Culinary Olympics,
as well as the
director of X-Treme Consultancy.
· Have enlisted the
help of 2 assistants to help look into regional
issues – Garry Miller from
New Zealand and
Rick Steven from Australia.
· This is in line with
fulfilling the promises that I made to WACS before
I was elected as
continental director.
This directorship will not be all about Australia.
It is a team effort. I
want the region
to join as one and move towards growth in WACS. The
old days of division
are over and united
will move forward.
· I have a business
opportunity that I would like to share with you.
If all are agreeable to its
implementation,
it would assist all associations in becoming financially
sustainable.
o
Financial sustenance is the key to a successful organization,
and I think it is much
better
to teach someone here to bake the bread rather than
just make them a
sandwich,
because the sandwich will just disappear but the baker
will survive.
o
I propose we create a software programme that will
be able to link the country
sponsor
to as a chef who is writing a recipe for his menu.
As a chef writes a recipe
and
finds he needs a certain product, all he needs to
do is click the sponsor name,
which
will lead him directly to a page on their website
with an ingredient list and
cost.
This direct and fast link between chef and supplier
has vast potential, and could
become
an asset to WACS if marketed.
· I have received a
request from Fiji to assist in the seminar
and culinary demonstrations of
their salon during
the first week of November. I’ve already had
a meeting with them on that –
our first for
the year.
o
The salon is held in conjunction with the south pacific
trade show the salon will be
held
at the Sheraton Towers Hotel.
o
Fijian chefs association president, Daniel and I are
currently discussing the finer
points
of the seminar.
· Australia
has been successful in preparing a Japanese chef to
travel to Fiji as an assistant in
training at a
local restaurant.
· Would like to take
this opportunity to publicly acknowledge the Stanford
Place in Brisbane
for ‘lending’
me Chef Satore Nagasimi.
· Australia is having
a good run with the Nestle Golden Chef’s Hat
competition. It is probably
the oldest apprentice-level
competition in Australia as it has been running in
excess of 25
years.
o
They said they would pay someone to operate for them.
We thought is would be sort
of
a boys club, so we took over and opened it to every
apprentice in Australia, not
just
a chosen few.
o
We compete with hot kitchen cooking, which is the
hardest of its kind in Australia
and
I would equal with any in the world. If you win a
gold medal at this
competition,
you stand a really good chance at a successful career.
o
Would be good if you could come and see it for yourself
in August.
· Both the Australian
national culinary and pastry teams are financially
ready to travel and the
money is already
in the bank.
· Our junior team did
very well in Dublin at the WACS congress and came
home with silver
medals.
· In New Zealand,
the guys there are very busy at the moment, and will
continue to be until
the 2006 congress
is over.
· Australia is also
proud to have New Zealander Corey Hume as a support
member the
national team. New Zealand will not be
sending a national team to the Culinary Olympics this
year, but at least we will be able to take one of
their juniors along with the Australian team to
provide him with
the training opportunity. He is a great tradesman
and an excellent
ambassador for
his country.
· Our webpage
has been seeing a record number of hits as well as
sponsor renewals.
o
It is good to get a sponsor for one year, but if at
the same time 10 others disappear,
then
perhaps we have not served them well. If a sponsor
returns year after year, then
generally
I would think you are doing a good job.
· Roger Sayce is here
from the Gold Coast in Queensland to update you on
the 2005 WACS
Asia-Pacific
Forum that is currently being planned.
o
The new presidium in WACS are giving us valuable direction
on how we should run
this
forum and participate in the world congress to achieve
results.
· I will take direction
from our president but is it most important for me
to make sure that
everything works
in the Pacific region. We are a long wayoff from America
and Europe, but
are very close
to Asia. It is more logical that we gather in this
area rather than race around
the world to be
present at every international competition. I want
this region to grow.
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|
| 10.00am |
Report from China
By Wang Jiagen, Deputy Secretary General of the China
Cuisine Association
· I would like to express
our sincere thanks to the Korea Cooks Association
for the great
contribution to
this forum and their kind hospitality to the delegates.
· Established in l987,
China Cuisine Association (CCA) is not only
an association for all the
Chefs and cooks
in China but also an association for the nation's
catering industry.
· CCA has about 10,000
members directly under the national Association.
· There are more than
3 million catering enterprises with 18 million staff
and over 6 million
registered cooks
all over China.
· CCA has a long-term
cooperation and close relationship with local associations
in provinces
and cities that
have about 300,000 local members.
· Recently, CCA has
formed 8 branches as follows:
1)
Fast Food Professional Committee
2)
Western Food Professional Committee
3)
Muslim Cuisine Professional Committee
4)
National Famous-Chef Special Committee
5)
Nutrition & Gourmet Professional Committee
6)
Culinary Culture Research Institute
7)
Training & Exchange Center
8)
World Cuisine magazine, published monthly.
· Besides, CCA has
its own website, www.ccas.com.cn, called the ‘China
Catering Culture
Website’.
· CCA organizes a lot
of culinary activities every year, such as seminars,
competitions, food
festivals, training
programmes and promotion of new cooking skills and
new dishes etc.
· CCA is the organizer
of national culinary competitions that occur every
5 years.
o
Over 5,000 cooks took part in the 5th National Cooking
Competition, which started
in
September 2003 and finished in April 2004.
· We have food festivals
and competitions in the provinces almost in every
month. e.g:
o
From 21 – 23 August 2004, there will be an International
Food Festival including
Shandong
Culinary Competition in Yantai City, Shandong Province,
organized
jointly
by CCA and Shandong Cuisine Association.
o
From 16 – 21 November 2004, there will be another
International Food Festival in
Guangzhou
including the 5th World Competition of Chinese Cuisine,
organized by
CCA
and the Guangzhou Municipal Government
o
China celebrates national cooks festival in October
every year. The 14th National
Cooks
Festival, sponsored by Fuzhou Municipal Government,
will take place from
23
– 28 October 2004. (The last two festivals were
organized in Chendu Sichuan
province
and Nanchang Jiangxi province. The big cities are
very active in the
competition
for the sponsorship of a cooks festival.)
· CCA bid to host
a WACS World Congress for the first time at the
Congress in Dublin this
march but failed.
We will try again though.
· We are not very active
in WACS culinary competitions because they are mainly
showcasing
Western cuisine.
We hope that more attention can be paid to the rules
concerning Oriental
cuisine.
· We are keen to
join more training programmes offered by WACS
and WACS
members,especially ‘Train the Trainer’.
We tried this programme with the New Zealand
Chefs Association in 2002, and would like to continue
such exchanges.
· CCA requests an
official letter from WACS for the proposed ‘World
Chefs Day’. (this
request was echoed
by other members at the forum) the request was as
well requested by
other members
· We would like to
see more modern culinary techniques being introduced
and showcased at
competitions.
Comments from Continental Director Frank Naesheim:
China came forward to present their country as a future
congress venue at the Dublin congress, and did a very
good job of it. But in future, I believe Asia should
stand behind together with the countries that show
up for the World Congress, so that not everything
has to be done by proxy voting as in the past. At
this year’s congress Asia was sitting there with
only 7- 8 votes to compare with 40 - 50 strong votes
for other continents. If we can pull our resources
together, we do not have to vote in this estranged
way on important issues like congress venues. There
must be a more powerful force of unity coming from
our region at future congresses.
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Report
from Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Chefs Association was absent with apologies
- they could not be present due to the recent restructuring
of the committee. |
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Report
from Japan
Expressed happiness at the new direction of the Asia-Pacific
Forum, especially the fact that there were powerpoint
presentations that made the content easy to understand. |
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Report from Malaysia
By Norafandi Abd. Malek, General Secretary of the
Chef’s Association of Malaysia, on behalf of
president KK Yau.
· Apologies but the
president was not able to come.
· We hope that the
new direction set by this presidium will stay alive
and healthy in the years
to come even though
people come and go.
· An exciting in culinary
challenge will be held in July during the first Penang
Culinary Expo,
with a USD$5,000
first prize for the winner.
· CAM will be co-organizing
a Nestle Golden Chef’s Hat competition in August
, as well as
the 14th Malaysian
Skills Competition with the government.
· We will also be sending
competitors to the World Chinese Cuisine competition
in Taiwan.
· In September we will
organize the 2nd Lee Kum Kee Chefs Challenge for the
apprentices,
with a first prize
of UDS$500 cash.
· If Chef’s Day
comes through in October, we have in mind two charity
events – a golf
tournament and
a charity dinner.
· We will also be participating
in a gourmet expo national competition in china and
will be in
the Culinary Olympics
this year, despite low funds.
· On the first week
of December, CAM will hold its Annual Gala dinner
– it will be a night of
recognition for
those who have done well in our industry.
· To close the year
we will be having a Malaysian pastry competition.
· 2005 will be election
year for our association, and usually we have new
faces.
· The CAM committee
has given me the mandate to offer Malaysia as the
host for the 11th
WACS Asia-Pacific
forum in conjunction with our 30th anniversary. We
hope all of you will
support our proposal
.
· Video.
Comments from Continental Director Frank Naesheim:
That was a great presentation. CAM is an active association
which shows good commitment to
developing the profession. A new and very active Malaysian
national team will be ready by 2006 – we should
support their efforts.
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Report from Thailand
By Marco P. Bruschweiler, overseas coordinator for
the Thai Chefs Association
· What’s cooking
in Thailand? Well, a lot of chili! Our association
experienced a bit
turbulence, which
weakened us. We have two chefs associations in our
country with one run
by experts and
one run by local chefs. However we are looking into
merging into one Thai
Culinary Association.
· From 8 – 11
September we will hold our annual culinary gathering,
which we have been
doing for the
10 years. I will be running this competition, which
is mostly focused on hot
cooking, ice carving
and vegetable carving. We don’t focus on cold
display at this
competition because
we believe presenting food covered in gelatin is old
fashioned. It
reached a high
point 20 years ago, but it is not practical anymore
and yet we are still
continuing with
this item at national and international competitions
worldwide.
· We look forward to
becoming strong again as in the past and participating
in many future
events.
Comments from Continental Director Frank Naesheim:
Great news to hear that you have sorted out the political
issues within both associations and we look forward
to you coming back into the family as one unit. WACS
looks forward to this happening and seeing you back
in action. In WACS you are still the official chefs
association for Thailand, so if you would like to
change or merge, you must inform WACS and myself accordingly. |
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Report from Myanmar
By Oliver E.Soe Thet, president of the Myanmar Chefs
Association.
· In Myanmar, currently,
the focus is on education.
o
We realize need we need much more training for local
chefs, and as such have got in
contact
with an international hotel chain who are sending
us their professional chefs.
We
are still looking for sponsorship for the air tickets
and accommodation –
anybody
from large companies to government bodies who are
willing to help.
o
It would be good if chefs from Australia, Germany
or any other country could step
up
to indicate they want to be part of this development,
to come over for a while and
share
their knowledge and expertise with our chefs.
· We also recently
collaborated with the All Japan Cooks Association
to bring three of their
chefs over to
train in Myanmar from 31 May 2004.
· Thanks to the AJCA
we were also able to raise charity money to feed about
4,000
underprivileged
children.
· Earlier this year,
masterchef Rudi Weyrauch from Saarland in Germany
visited Myanmar to
conduct free western
cooking classes for professional young chefs, and
was so successful at
inspiring his
students that plans are currently underway for his
return in late 2004 to set up an
International
cooking school at Ngapali Beach.
· Our networking efforts
with Thailand are proving fruitful because more and
more Thai chefs
are coming to
Myanmar to learn. We thank the Thai Chefs Association
for their support.
· We are interested
perhaps to host an Asia-Pacific Forum in Myanmar in
2009.
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Report from Mauritius
By Gopalsamy Murday, president, Mauritian Chefs Association
· We picture ourself
as a 5-year-old toddler compared to the rest of you
in WACS. Our
association only
has180 members.
· But we managed to
host the 7th Asia-Pacific Forum in our country last
year.
· In the past we have
hosted the Meat & Livestock Australia Black Box
Culinary Challenge in
our hotel school. |
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Report from the Phillipines
By Othmar Frei, president, Les Toques Blanches Philippines.
· The Philippines
were absent with apologies. Frank Naesheim read
out the letter from the
president. “In
regards to the status of our association ‘Les
Toques Blanches Philippines’: As you
know we have always been a very active club in organizing
culinary competitions, as well social
and sports activities to create links , friendship
and mutual understanding in the professional
cooperation. In the past few years we encountered
difficult times politically, economically
as well in general business which forced us to stop
all activities in our association. But
now the time has come to revive our association
and look in the future of our culinary industry.
Therefore, we organized a Les Toque Blanches
Chefs gathering and cocktail on 24 May
2004 to discuss and revive the revival of the association
and elect new board members to run
the association. We will keep youposted on the outcome
of this meeting .
With Best regards
Othmar Frei
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Report from Singapore
By Eric Teo, vice president, Singapore Chefs Association
· The Singapore chefs
association is proud to be associated with the Singapore
Restaurant and
Hotel Association
directory. We were registered in 1984 and today have
a total of 460
members and 220
junior club members .
· SCA has produced
a set of top level national culinary teams over the
years, such as the team
in 1988 which
won the prestigious Culinary World Cup championship
and the team in 2000
which came in
1st runner up at the IKA HOGA Culinary Olympics in
Erfurt, and 2nd runner
up in the 2002
event.
· Local activities
by the association include the annual Lo Hei (a Chinese
New Year tradition)
dinner and AGM,
annual Christmas dinner, and educational visits to
factories that process
foods like chocolate,
sushi, beer and bakery products.
· We also have social
gatherings such as family day at the beach, bird park
or zoo, where the
children and spouses
of members can tag along.
· We also have sporting
activities such as tennis competitions, bowling tournaments
and
snooker . (We’ve
been thinking of a mahjong sessions in the future).
· We have just created
a junior chefs club with 220 members.
· SCA activities are
covered in The New Asia Cuisine & Wine Scene,
published by Peter
Knipp
Holdings.
· We aim to make the
world’s longest spring roll soon, watch out for
it!
· As for major industry
events: The annual World Gourmet Summit brings 12
to 17
internationally
acclaimed chefs to Singapore every year in April.
The biennial
Food&HotelAsia
exhibition – Asia’s largest F&B and
Hospitality trade exhibition – is also
held in April
at the Singapore Expo.
· On 24th April this
year we co-organised the first Bocuse d’Or seminar
in Asia together with
the Norweigan
Seafood Export Council, during which two past Bocuse
d’Or champions
shared their experiences
with us.
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Report from Sri Lanka
By Gerard Mendis, Chairman of the Council of Management,
Chefs Guild of Lanka, who was absent with apologies,
but sent a letter prior to the forum which Frank Naesheim
read to the
delegates.
· We have restructured
the association to ensure the smooth function of the
Guild and to
ensure the same
standards are carried out and not that an elected
new committee does not
function as required.
· We have formed an
association committee that will function under a board
of directors to
handle national
affairs for a period of 2 years.
· All international
affairs and national representation will be handled
by myself and the board.
Please note that
other than the names indicated, no person is eligible
to represent the chefs
Guild of Sri Lanka
without a written statement from the board.
· The Chefs Guild of
Lanka is committed towards the objectives of WACS
and will continue
to support Frank
Naesheim as our continental director. |
|
| |
Report from Korea
By Min-su Kang, president of the Korea Cooks Association
· The annual Seoul
International Food Expo is held from 26 – 30
May 2004 and we would be
very honored if
you could all attend this event after the Asia-Pacific
Forum.
· Due to the time limit
for presentation, we have prepared a video.
· We intend to hold
seminars on the topic of the WACS ‘Train the
Trainer’ initiative and on
competitions.
· Request for 2 national
juries to be approved – an application was sent
2 years ago for this.
· We were disappointed
at the poor attendance of the overseas teams in the
recent Korea
competitions. |
|
| |
Report from India (joined WACS
in 2004)
By Mr Soundararajan, General secretary for the Indian
Federation of Culinary Associations. India was absent
with apologies and the following letter was read
to forum delegates by Frank Naesheim:
Dear Chefs,
Greetings from the Indian Federation of Culinary
Associations (IFCA), INDIA. Thank you for the invitation
to the WACS Asia-Pacific Forum 2004. The executive
body and members of the IFCA are delighted to be
part of the great culinary moment called WACS. We
attended the world congress in Dublin, and since
the Asian forum has come very close to the congress,
we have not planned in our progamme. We are also
in the process of consolidating the association
in India. Therefore, we really regret that we will
not be able to attend the forum this month. I am
sure we will plan the future programs well in advance.
Thank you for your support and cooperation. Looking
for long term associations, friendships and camaraderie.
We wish the forum a grand success!
Please do keep in touch with us,
Soundararajan
General secreatry
IFCA
Comments from Continental Director Alan Palmer:
In February, they organized the Chef and Child event
in Chennai / Madras and raised 300,000 rupees. Congratulations
to them!
|
|
| |
Report from Alan Palmer
WACS Honourary Life Member, based in Sri Lanka
· Very happy to accept
the role of assistant to Continental Director Frank
Naesheim. The
region which I
have accepted to look after is now known as the South
Asia Region
Corporation (SARC)
– if we add on India, Pakistan, Butane, Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh, India,
Nepal and the
Maldives, that actually comes to 25% of the world
we have to feed.
· There is a competition
in Maldives about 100 competing chefs in categories
such as cake
decoration, hot
cooking for meat and fish, and vegetable carving.
Due to financial constraints
we are only able
to issue tickets by Sri Lanka Air.
· We looking forward
to have some nominations as a destination for WACS
events, as Sri
Lanka is one of
the places with the best resorts in the world. |
|
| |
Report from Fiji
By Mohammed Faruk, Treasurer Fiji Chefs Association
· Our president Daniel
Lienhard apologies that he cannot attend due to an
accident.
· The Fiji Chefs Association
started 10 years ago as a small association, which
then joined
WACS in 1999.
· Could not get confirmation
and feedback on the abdication - don’t know why.
Unfortunately,
our association
collapsed.
· We have paid our
membership fee this year.
· We are the smallest
member of WACS with 800,000 citizens. Our country’s
economic
growth comes mainly
from the hotel and tourism industry, and almost everybody
in Fiji is
related to this
industry in some way.
· Our chefs association
has a total of 75 members, and our committee meets
every 2 weeks.
· Please share with
us your ideas on how we could groom some of our junior
chefs for
competition.
· We had a Salon for
junior chefs this year and the winner joined the New
Zealand junior
culinary team
to compete in the Junior Chefs competition in Dublin,
Ireland this year.
· We also recently
had a successful Japanese culinary training session.
· We would appreciate
the opportunity to host the annual Asia-Pacific forum
in our country in
the future.
· The WACS membership
fee is very high for our small association, is there
any way to reduce
the high cost? |
All
associations
to send
newsletters
and
information
to the Fiji
Chefs
Association
whenever
possible. |
| |
Report from New Zealand
By Grant Jackson, vice president, New Zealand Chefs
Association
· At the moment, we
are conducting our regional culinary competitions,
leading up to a
national final
competition in August.
· These competitions
are in part to train our junior chefs, and progress
in this area has been
slow but steady.
· We are actively involved
in helping students make choices for their career,
and bringing them
into the industry.
· Growth in the association
is coming from a lot of chefs realizing that collectively,
they can
make a positive
difference in the profession. A lot of past members
are also rejoining.
· Request for the minutes
of this meeting to be ready by the time delegates
depart from the
2004 Asia-Pacific
forum.
Hugo Schwartz committed to have the meeting minutes
ready in one week, to be distributed via email as
well as posted on the WACS website. |
|
| 11.20am |
Tea / Coffee Break |
|
11.30am
Open Forum |
Presentation on Korean
Food Trends,
by Prof. Kim Ki Young from Kyonggi University
(Full version in Appendix
D) |
|
12.00nn
Live Cooking
Demonstration |
Preparation of kimchi preparation, by
Miss Soon Ja Kin, President of Han Sang Food Co Ltd. |
|
| 1.00pm |
Lunch at Capital Hotel |
|
2.00pm
Forum Business
2.05pm
|
Asia’s response
to the proposed “World Chef’s Day”
(20 October)
· Bill Gallagher to
send official letter for World Chefs Day concept to
all country presidents.
· Response from the
floor:
o
If national police forces and fire brigades bring
awareness of their profession into
the
schools on a dedicated day each year, resulting in
strong responses for
recruitment,
why can’t the chefs do the same?
o
WACS has more than 70 countries, with approximately
8,000,000 members. China
has
6,000,000 cooks. India has 5,000,000 cooks. The fullest
potential of ‘World
Chefs
Day’ can be met if every country in the world
celebrates it with coverage on
national
television. Asia should not miss the boat.
o
Take the opportunity to do charity work for children,
the handicapped, the poor and
hungry
or the elderly. What we have in common as chefs associations
is that we are
non
political and non religious. We are a neutral organization
that can potentially do
for
the world what the Olympic organization has done for
it.
o
For example:
-Chefs
wearing their jackets could shake hands across the
North and South
Korea
border.
-1,000
chefs could congregate in Tienamen Square in China,
wearing their
jackets,
as a demonstration of peace and thanksgiving.
-Similar
demonstrations in countries where violence has been
prevalent
recently,
like in Sri Lanka.
o
These are powerful statements that our profession
can be proud of.
o
China comments: This idea was already agreed on in
Dublin, but there was no
official
statement from WACS to say it approved this idea,
so there’s no way of
officiating
or legalizing ‘World Chefs Da y’ with our
respective government bodies.
o
Myanmar comments: Using a political platform to communicate
may not be the
most
effective: people – to – people, within
the industry, is best. Would also be good
to
involve the respective national tourism industries
in this worldwide effort.
o
Frank Naesheim hopes to receive confirmation soon
from all countries on the
progress
of getting World Chefs Day recognized within their
country. |
Send letter to
all president
country |
| 2.15pm |
· WACS
website – walk through web content and check
contact information.
· Hugo Schwartz will
send Peter Knipp the updated country information,
address and contact
changes.
· Communication is
the key word – the website is a very powerful
tool in your hands, so try to
use it often.
· When asked how many
of the present delegates have surfed the website before,
all said yes. |
|
2.30pm
Questionnaire |
Asia region Membership
Survey Form
· The survey form that
was sent out by Frank Naesheim earlier in the year
included the
following questions:
o
Name of the country’s official Chefs Association
o
Official mailing address of the association.
o
Names of association’s committee members and
titles.
o
Contact details, including, telephone and fax number,
mobile phone number, and
email
address.
·
Association’s current membership fee for each
kind of member:
·
Junior
·
Senior
·
Sponsor / subscribing member
·
Others
o
Total number of members in your association.
o
How many (if any) regional chefs associations do you
have?
o
What are the criteria for becoming a members in your
association.
o
What kind of culinary education / higher education
do you offer in your country?
o
Do you have an apprenticeship programme, and if yes,
how long is it?
o
Where does this programme take place? (hotel/restaurant/trade
school?)
o
How many years do apprentices have to spend in training
to become a cook or a
chef?
o
How many gastronomic private schools and how many
gastronomic state schools?
o
Do you conduct special seminars for those with the
potential to become master
chefs?
o
Do you have a master-chef examination that determines
who can use the title?
· The following countries
have responded with the survey form:
o
Hong Kong Chefs Association
o
The following country have submitted the survey form
o
All Japan Cooks Association
o
Chefs Association of Malaysia
o
Singapore Chef Association
o
Myanmar Chef Association
o
Chefs Guild of Lanka
o
Les Toques Blanches (Philippines)
o
Thailand Chefs Association
o
China Cuisine Association
· Meanwhile, we are
looking forward to a speedy reply from the following
associations:
o
Korea Cooks Association (S. Korea)
o
Indian Federation of Culinary
o
Association of Culinary Professionals Indonesia
o
Mauritius Chef Association |
Korea, India,
Indonesia and
Mauritius to
respond to
questionnaire. |
| 2.40pm |
Follow up with assigned
tasks for members in the Asian region:
· Job descriptions
for leaders
· Number of member
countries within continent
· Scope of association
activities
· Core responsibilities
· Communication
· Junior chefs’
development
· Strategic Planning
Task Force |
|
| |
Task of the Continental
Director:
· Increase membership
· Act as a role model
on behalf of WACS
· Investigate and introduce
new innovations to the region
· Facilitate two-way
communication between the WACS board and countries
in the region
· Motivate countries
in the region to be active members of WACS and grow
their own
associations.
· Make full use of
sponsorship opportunities for WACS.
· Be involved in regional
charity events as part of a greater social responsibility
where possible
· Communicate with
country members on a regional basis.
· Monitor that the
countries in the region pay their fees
· Attend the biennial
congress and regional forums where possible.
· Keep the WACS Board
of Directors informed of all changes in the region.
· Give a monthly report
and overview of the region.
· Represent WACS at
key functions in the area where possible.
· Perform a public
relations role for WACS, both regionally and nationally
As such, your feedback and information updates for
your continental directors are imperative.
Information about…
o
Events
o
Functions
o
Exhibitions and
o
Competitions
…are crucial to keeping the region well managed
and always on its toes. |
|
| |
Feedback required
from all:
· What do you want
us to put on the next Agenda for WACS board meeting
/ what do you
want
us to work on for the next few years?
· What do you want
to see on the agenda at the next European continental
meeting?
· What major culinary
events do you have in your country in the next 10
years? (full names
and dates)
· What other things
do you want to share about your association to the
rest of the world? |
ALL to
respond by
communicatin
g with the
continental
directors
within 2
weeks of
receiving the
minutes. |
| 2.55pm |
Presentation
by Jasmine Ng, from the Singapore Chefs Association
on the SCA’s brand new Junior Chefs Club. Full
version available in Appendix
E. |
|
| 2.50pm |
Education and cross-cultural
learning opportunities:
· Frank Naesheim:
What Singapore has done to bring in young students
is a very good idea.
WACS has for
too long been seen as a community of old guys. We
need the young to be
with us, so
we can give them the information and confidence
to build successful futures.
We are short
of young culinary students in Singapore. Hope that
this inspires you to start
something for
the youth in your country.
· Grant Jackson (New
Zealand): I think it is a wonderful programme which
gives them a
chance to be
in the kitchen. Give them something to spark their
imagination and then be
available for
them.
· Roger Sayce (Australia):
You need a strategy to get these kids interested
in association
efforts. For
example, good prize money in local competitions,
apprenticeship opportunities
and scholarships
are very attractive to them. But do the countries
have this kind of money to
offer?
· Gopalsamy Murday
(Mauritius): One of our junior chefs was selected
to compete at the
event in Monte Carlo. He won top
placing out of 80 competitors from hotel schools
in
Europe which is a huge achievement for our little
island .
· Another such opportunity
is the ASA culinary competition in Kenya, Africa,
where a total of
8 teams took
part from various hotel schools.
· KK Yau (Malaysia):
We have partnered with the Malaysian government
and every year we
selected a national
junior representative through the Malaysian skill
competition.
· Oliver Soe E Thet
(Myanmar): The age problem could be the issue in
Asia. Some
apprentices
are legally allowed to start at 14 or 15 years old
while others can start only at 18
years or 23
years of age. This gives those with longer experience
an added (but unfair)
advantage in
competitions.
|
All |
| 3.30pm |
Video Presentation
of the 2004 World Gourmet Summit in Singapore
· This annual event
that took place from 19 – 30 April 2004 was widely
covered by
international
as well as local media.
· A media kit was distributed
to all forum participants, who were invited to share
this
information to
their members.
· Full details available
at www.worldgourmetsummit.com.
|
|
| |
Sponsorship Opportunities
Frank Naesheim:
· Asia does have
some big companies that could be interested, but
generally agreed that the
chefs associations
could not help from their own pockets as it is a
large sum of money that is
needed to propel
this world association.
· Remember that sponsorship
is not charity, it is business; two parties are
looking to gain
through the
buying and selling of something. Both should happy
and willing to do it and by
doing so, meet
one another’s needs.
· Snorre Food Pte
Ltd just spent SGD$300,000 (together with the Norweigan
Seafood
Export Council) as a partner of the
World Gourmet Summit 2004. We all benefited
because
it
was
such a great
event and would like to do the same next year.
However, we did not view it as charity to the event.
· Try to think about
all the big compani es in your countries –
if you can manage to get just one
sponsor for
WACS you would already be a hero. Don’t think
of it as doing WACS a favour,
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