South African Chefs Association (SACA) would like share with you the pride and joy they have in celebrating the opening of the South African Chefs Association Centre for Culinary Excellence at the School of Tourism and Hospitality University of Johannesburg.
“Cooking food for so many people is no easy task. We have to look at doing it systematically and we have to micro plan about issues such as quantities to prevent any possible wastage or shortage because the numbers in each zone are different. For this we need technical know how in cooking. This is where the chefs can come in a big way,” Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, Executive Director of Sarvodaya said.
“We are hoping to come up with a programme for these youth to be trained in cookery. So when they get out of the camp they will be able to make a career out of it. We lack the funds and are looking for donors to set up a proper programme,” Sharadha said.
The Chefs Guild and Sarvodaya are appealing for donations of rice, dhall and spices- chilli powder, turmeric, roasted curry powder, coriander powder, goraka, cinnamon, Maldive fish, salt, mustard seeds and ginger for the project.
For information contact Subasena de Silva at Sarvodaya on Tel: +94 777635015 or +94 112655110, or e-mail: sarsube@sarvodaya.org
On the last day of HOFEX the two past Champions went head-to-head in the Gourmet Team Challenge. 2004 Winners the Hong Kong International Convention Centre Team were up against the Defending Champions and Winners from 2006 Gourmet Team from the Philippines.
Overall winners of Gourmet Team Chellenge for 2009 is the HKICC Team - see all the dishes from both teams below.
Our Penang Junior Chefs Club general committee took the swearing-in ceremony! In line with our commitment toward our profession, the newly elected general committee plead their loyalty and dedication towards their Association led by Chef Audee Cheah recently during a swearing-in ceremony dinner hosted by Chef Darren Tan at Sweet Cherry Thai Restaurant.
From left –Bong Weng Chuan, Syamsul Bahari, Goh Sok Siong, Malcom with Zubir Zain
In this competition the team, cooks and served a 3 course set menu within 2 hours using some fresh vegetables and dairy products from a mystery box. According to team leader, Chef Zubir Zain, the team has undergone several training session prior to the competition and this sweet achievement has proven all the hard work were paid off!!! 
The Junior team, will like to thank the committee of the Saloon Culinaire in Jakarta and especially the president chef Vindex, and Chef Eduard Betez for the hospitality at the Borobudur Hotel and all the help provide . 
We will like also to congratulate the Singapore Junior team, placed at the second place and our sister Penang Chefs Association Malaysian chapter that brought back the Third place and the over all best Junior Chef with two silver medal Chef : Fong Chung Yew.
Chef Otto will be our Chief Judge and several others judges from overseas such as Marco from Thailand, Heinz Kohler from Phuket, Tony Khoo, Kenny Kong from Singapore and several others also the from our fellow partners BCP (Bali)."
WACS Junior wishes all competitors good luck and good cooking, and as Chef Otto always says, "Don't do anything too fancy, just keep it simple but make sure it tastes good."
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| “What’s radical about us rests not on what we serve, but on how and where. In the West, where the problem of hunger has been solved, where obesity is now the issue, the trend has to be more and more about the pleasure of eating, the fun, rather than seeing it as simply a way of satisfying our appetites. At El Bulli we try and take this idea to the nth degree” |
| Ferran Adrià has been described as the best chef on the planet. His restaurant, elBulli, was voted the World’s Best Restaurant for the fourth time this year. It receives over one million reservation requests a year, where only 8 000 lucky ones get a table. |
British Culinary Federation
The British Culinary Federation held its annual Young Chef of the Year competition on 17 November, at University College Birmingham. This highly prestigious event, now in its 11th year, was sponsored by Electrolux Professional and supported by Villeroy & Boch, attracting more entries than ever before.
After the paper judging part of the competition, 16 young chefs were selected to compete in a two hour cook off over two heats. Each competitor had to produce a 3-course meal for two persons, which included a starter using sea bass, a main course using any cut of British beef and a dessert using apples.
Competitors were marked by a panel of distinguished judges led by Kevin Viner (Chairman of Judges), Eric Bruce, Lee Corke and Marcus Eaves with kitchen invigilator, John Peart. The criteria for judging included working methods, professional techniques, culinary skills, hygiene practices, timing, quality and balance of textures and flavours, as well as the presentation of the finished dishes.
After much deliberating, the judges were all unanimous on their placing of the top three competitors.
Here is a great website from Ireland made by Chefs for Chefs, take a good look and register for the recipes and blogs. |
Hong Kong International Culinary Classic (HKICC) 2009 exhibits in conjunction with HOFEX 2009 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre runs from 6th – 9th May 2009. This four-day culinary competition, co-organised by The Hong Kong Chefs Associations (HKCA), is targeted at international culinary talents to demonstrate their superb culinary expertise and skills.
In addition to welcoming some leading chefs and industrial professional experts to the organising team this year, HKICC will also invited an international reach of highly-respected chefs and culinary experts to preside over the judging of HKICC 2009.
This year, the competition is made up of 7 main categories ranging from Western Cuisine, Chinese Cuisine, Ice Carving, Pastry, Live Bakery Competition, Live Pastry Competition (NEW), and the Gourmet Team Challenge - each catered to the increasingly sophisticated needs of the food, drinks and hospitality industries.
HKICC is now inviting young and talented chefs from restaurants, clubs, hotels and catering institutions to participate at this international culinary competition. The last edition in 2007 was fully subscribed with over 580 entries. Act immediately to secure you and/or your colleague a placement in this exciting event before it is fully booked.
Registration for HKICC is now OPEN !
Click here to download the HKICC rules and regulation book for HKICC 2009
Click here to download the Chinese Version
Click here to download the Registration form for the HKICC 2009
For more info log on to www.hongkong-chefs.com
Holistic training for pastry chefs helps southern youth
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HAMBANTOTA – When five students from a hotel school jointly run by Don-Bosco and the Chef’s Guild of Sri Lanka presented themselves for an interview at a hotel in Sigiriya, their ‘immaculate’ behaviour – even before the interview – impressed the manager so much that they were hired on the spot.
“The manager was impressed by what he saw as they waited to be called that he hired them without spending much time on an interview,” Don Bosco’s Bro. Gabriel told The Sunday Times FT.
The Don-Bosco Chef’s Guild of Lanka Institute of Hospitality and Catering at Hambantota imparts much more than just hoteliering and catering. The courses have a holistic training module which includes human and moral values, cleanliness and behaviour, Bro Gabriel said.
The hotel school, which also has a small hotel with 7-8 chalets on the beach as a training ground for the students, accommodates about 30 in a batch. It was started soon after the tsunami to help youth in the area learn some skill. The Chef’s Guild runs a bakery and pastry course at a fully automated bakery at the centre. English is also taught to the students.
The students are all Buddhists and the school liaises with the local temple in selecting entrants. According to W. Sayakkara, Pastry/Bakery Chef cum Instructor, most of the students from the previous two batches have got jobs in top hotels in Colombo and elsewhere. The hotel school is concentrating a lot of bakery and pastry courses due to demand for pastry chefs in New Zealand and Australia, he told the newspaper during a recent visit to the centre.
Deeganage Gamini de Silva, 31, who has worked in a hotel in Ambalantota, says he joined the course to learn pastry making and baking as he wants to go to Australia. Nadeeka Ranjani, 21, also wants to go abroad and sees the hotel school as a step in that direction. In the case of Imesha Nadeeshani, 17, the hotel school hopes to set up pastry outlets in the town and elsewhere and plan to give her an opportunity to run one of them.
Come August 2011, South Africa will once again play host to the most incredible global culinary event of a lifetime -
The "World Cooks Tour for Hunger 2011".
This amazing event will take place throughout South Africa from 20th-27th August 2011 and will see more than 200 international and local Chefs come together to raise more than ZAR 2 million (South African Rand) helping the poor and the underprivileged to receive a warm meal and more.
Today begins a series of articles in which we will reveal the personal experiences of Chefs who have had the privilege of attending the World Cooks Tour for Hunger in South Africa.
We begin with my own reflections from the first day of the 2003 World Cooks Tour for Hunger.
Dear chefs, colleagues, friends and presidents of national Chefs associations,
Please allow me to invite you all to come and take part in Asia’s 1st Culinary Cup that will be hold in Bangkok from the 1st – 5th of September 2009 at the Siam Paragon right in the center of Bangkok.
We have opened our website since a few days, and would like you to have a look on all the competitions that we are offering and hopefully will be able to welcome you in the Land of smile next year.
We will however continue to inform you of any developments, which will occur over the next 300 days when the Contest will officially open.
The Web site is www.asiaculinarycup09.com
We will also mail you a hard copy of the Rules and Regulations before the end of the year
With culinary regards
Marco P. Brueschweiler
Organizing Chairman of ACC 09
International Chef Day – Singapore
International Chef’s Day 2008 was celebrated in Singapore quite differently as compared to previous years. Instead of visiting homes for the elderly and cooking for them, chefs from the Singapore Chef’s Association(SCA) invited more than 100 youths from Andrew & Grace Home, Northlight and Care Corner Family Services Center Woodlands to learn the ways of the chef at At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy. The objective of the chefs was twofold: to teach the young participants how to cook delicious and nutritional food and inspire them to enter the chef profession. “We wanted to share our skills with the underprivileged kids, and teach them that eating well may not be an expensive affair. With the right culinary skills, such as how to handle meats or cut vegetables the right way, they can be empowered to whip up a delicious, healthy meal at home anytime at a low cost.” Eric Teo, president of SCA.
The day began in the early afternoon at At-Sunrice, where, after a short introduction, the kids aged 12 to 17 were taken for a tour of the spice gardens surrounding the academy. After a returning to the academy and taking a short break — a break punctuated by the laughter of the kids as they donned their chef garb — the kids were divided into three teams and brought into the kitchens to see the instructors in actions.
It would be an understatement to say: “It was then the participants’ turn to cook”, for the aroma wafting through the air as each kitchen was a bustle of activity was unbelievably mouth-watering.
In the words of Bridget Hootan, a participant from Andrew & Grace Home who had previously attended other cooking classes, International Chef’s Day 2008 was “a new experience because the first cooking class we attended they spoon-fed us everything. So now at least we get to walk around and understand different aspects of cooking.”
“I think it was a very good event and there was very good response. I think bringing all those kids from those various schools to the academy today was a very meaningful event to do and I think they will leave with great memories and hopefully give them some interests about what cuisines and food is all about and to understand the importance of good nutrition and food knowledge which today has the tendency to be forgotten,” said Christophe Megel, chief executive officer of At-Sunrice.
The day ended with a communal dinner at At-Sunrice, where the kids dined with their new friends, the chefs.
Article from Singapore Chefs Association
