Category: News
Dear All,
The Chefs’ Association of Pakistan (CAP) is immensely delighted to extend its best wishes to all the chefs arround the globe on the occasion of International Chefs Day-2013. Celebration of ICD is a symbol of unity and brotherhood amongst all the chefs rising above all kinds of geographical and racial boundries and barriers.
On this day of chefs, CAP is proud to be a member of the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) and would like to express its gratitude for the management of WACS for its tremendous professional support and motivation helping CAP to organize various culinary events in Pakistan.
At the same time, we are also greatly indebted to all the associations of chefs who provided their support in one way or the other.
Enjoy the International Chefs Day-2013 and share the best wishes with the community of chefs around the globe.
The best chefs in Wales are being invited to put their culinary skills to the test in a prestigious competition with £3,000 prize money at stake.
To enter the National Chef of Wales contest, chefs must be aged of 21 and above and either live, work or study within Wales.
They have until October 21 to enter the bi-annual competition, which is organised by the Culinary Association of Wales and sponsored by the Welsh Government, Unilever Food Solutions Hybu Cig Cymru/ Meat Promotion Wales.
Apart from winning the coveted title and an impressive dragon trophy, the winner will walk away with £2,000, while the runner up will receive £1,000. First they must complete an entry form and submit acreative menu for a three-course dinner for four, using ingredients predominantly produced in Wales.
From the entries, a panel of experienced judges will select four chefs for each of two regional heats – at Pembrokeshire College, Haverfordwest on October 29 and Coleg Llandrillo, Rhos on Sea on November 4 – where they will have three hours to cook their dishes.
The two regional winners and two highest scoring runners up will then go through to a high profile final cook-off to be held at Coleg Llandrillo on Monday, February 24 next year. The final is held on the eve of the three-day Welsh International Culinary Championships at Coleg Llandrillo, which attracts chefs from around the globe.
Entries must be submitted to: Mr Colin Gray, President, Culinary Association of Wales, 123 Pandy Road, Bedwas, Caerphilly, CF83 8DL. Entry forms can be downloaded from the Culinary Association of Wales website at www.welshculinaryassociation.com, or see attached
I would be grateful if you could send the attached out to all your contacts/customers to enable us to get the maximum exposure and entries for this great competition
For more information please contact Colin Gray, Culinary Association of Wales president, on 02920 851997 or 07957 422546 or Duncan Foulkes, press officer, on 01686 650818.
The Culinary Association of Wales has a new president and is offering free membership to anyone employed in the catering industry.
Colin Gray, 54, from Bedwas, is keen to make the association an inclusive organisation that works in partnership with the catering and hospitality sector.
“I want to get everyone in the sector involved to make the association stronger and to speak with one voice,” said Mr Gray, owner of Capital Cuisine and Colin Gray Event Catering. “The more people we get behind it, the more we can achieve together.
“Free membership will open up a range of networking opportunities and a fee will be charged only if a member wishes to have a vote in the association.”
An international judge accredited by the World Association of Chefs’ Societies (WACS), he is a former vice captain of the Welsh National Culinary Team and has represented his home country in competitions around the globe.
“I’m excited and honoured become president, having worked my way through the ranks over the years,” added Mr Gray, who succeeds association co-founder Peter Jackson. “Without Peter’s tenacity and hard work since its formation, the association wouldn’t be where it is today.”
One of the first decisions taken under his presidency was to re-form the association’s Mid Wales region. Gareth Johns, co-owner of the Wynnstay Hotel, Machynlleth, is chairman, Arwyn Watkins, managing director of Cambrian Training Company, Welshpool is secretary and Nick Davies, co-owner of the Lion Hotel, Llandinam is treasurer.
The association plans to hold four major annual events – the National Chef of Wales or Junior Chef of Wales competitions, which are held in alternate years, the Welsh International Culinary Championships at Coleg Llandrillo, Rhos on Sea, a summer ball and a Christmas event. In addition, there will be separate events held in the three regions – North, South and Mid Wales.
Mr Gray has pledged to support the senior and junior Welsh National Culinary Teams to achieve success on the international stage.
He spent nine years competing with the senior team, winning gold and silver medals at the Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg in 2002. While a team member, he also cooked for heads of state, royalty, senior politicians and celebrities at major events at home and abroad.
During the visit to Kremlin Culinary Cup that was held beginning of October in Moscow, Russia, WACS team once again made an important step towards strengthening the global network of chefs associations. Only few days ago, WACS President Gissur Gudmundsson and WACS General Manager Ragnar Fridriksson signed an official agreement with Victor Belaev, the President of the Russian Chefs Association, on the cooperation to build up the Worldchefs Russian web site that will be launched next year. In the light of obtaining a strong and successful professional relationship with its members and those to come, Worldchefs are determine to keep on enhancing culinary standards, providing assistance, contents of global importance adjusted to several world languages and finally to continue building up a powerful network of food professionals worldwide.
Andreas Becker from Trier is the VKD’s new president
The 19th General Assembly of the German Chefs’ Association (Verband der Köche Deutschlands e.V. , VKD) concluded on 14 September 2013 in Karlsruhe. The agenda contained the elections of a new president, executive committee and board as well as amendments of the statutes and reports on the activities of the association. Approximately 200 chefs participated in the 2-day event, which was excellently prepared by the Chefs’ Association in Karlsruhe (Verein der Köche Karlsruhe 1898 e.V.) under the direction of Klaus Müller.
The German Chefs’ Association has a new president: Andreas Becker, Kitchen Director Vereinigte Hospitien Trier, will be guiding the fortunes of the largest professional chefs’ association. Robert Oppeneder, who did not stand as a candidate again after a successful term, wished his successor lots of strength and circumspection in performing his new task. While running for the highest position amongst the German chefs, Andreas Becker was able to prevail against his two competing candidates: Andreas Rohde, Event Organiser of the Landgut Gühlen and Kitchen Director of the Rehabilitation Clinic Hohenelse in Rheinsberg and Ralf Meneghini, Trainer and Application Coach at Palux AG in Bad Mergentheim. He was elected with 856 members casting their votes in favour of the new president.
The Executive Committee was also elected through postal voting ahead of the General Assembly. Karl Haaf from Calw was reinstated in the position of Vice President as the only candidate for the Southern Region. From the Eastern Region, Detlef Richter, Director of Training at the Akademie Berlin-Schmöckwitz in Berlin, exchanged his duties as member of the board for the position of Vice President. For the Northern Region, Johann Grassmugg, Operations Manager of the Marina Restaurant at the Travemünde Yacht Club, came out as the winner. At present, there is no Vice President for the Western Region; however, they will register a candidate at a later stage. In his region, Andreas Becker ran as a candidate for both the position of President and Vice President.
In his inaugural speech, Andreas Becker called upon the Delegates Assembly’s team spirit, which was met with great applause. “You and your knowledge are of vital importance.” At the same time, he thanked his predecessor for his “wholehearted dedication” at the helm of the VKD over the last few years. In the future, the professional association is planning to provide the public with more information on professional issues and the culinary teams’ activities. Promoting young professionals remains one of the board’s top priorities.
Andreas Becker considers himself to be a team player and places great importance on a close cooperation between his fellow directors and the board. During his term of office from 2013 to 2017, he will be assisted by a team of both new and experienced board members.
The Overall Board of the VKD will be supplemented by the six Directors of the VKD’s Expert Committees. They were elected by open ballot by the delegates who met in Karlsruhe:
Rainer Werchner, Managing Director of Hela Gewürzwerk Hermann Laue in Austria, as Chairman of the JAK Committee (Youth, Exhibitions, Competitions, Culinary Art)
Karl Nafz, Product and Quality Manager at the University Clinic in Tübingen, will remain in his position as Chairman of the GVS Committee (Communal/Large-scale and Company Catering, Event Catering, System Catering);
Bernd Malter, Product Development and Quality Assurance as well as Training at the Enchilada Franchise GmbH in Gräfelfing and Managing Director of the Kochstudio Malter in Mertingen, will stay in his position as Chairman of the GMF Committee (Gastronomic Segment, Trade Shows, Associations, Companies/Partners);
Siegfried Wintgen, Owner of “Gesundheitsbewusstes Kochen” [health-conscious cooking] in Salzburg, will take over the position of Chairman of the EuG Committee (Nutrition and Health);
Prof. Dr. Gerald Wetzel, Director of the International Institute of Hospitality at the Baltic College in Schwerin, continues in his position as Chairman of the BAP Committee (Professional Training and Further Training, Examinations and Seminars (BAP);
Andreas Buss from Marburg took the position of Chairman of the MEK Committee (Membership Support, Media, Marketing & Communication, IT).
Franz Nass, the owner of the holiday park “Fichtenweg” in Winterberg, was re-elected as speaker of the various Federal State Associations.
The 19th General Assembly of the VKD took place under the patronage of Karlsruhe’s Mayor, Dr. Frank Mentrup. In his speech, he praised the dedication of the Karlsruhe chefs in his city. There were also a number of players from the industry who participated in the Assembly: During the Assembly, Katrin Moos-Achenbach of Achenbach Delicatessen and Walter Seubert of Seubert Delicatessen received the VKD’s highest award for their 50-year membership; Georges Knecht, President of the Hotel & Gastro Union as well as Andreas Bader brought greetings and congratulations from Switzerland; in addition Wieland Kniffka, Managing Director of Messe Erfurt, and District Manager, Anke Fischer, were also amongst the first people to congratulate the new VKD Board.
For information please contact:
Deborah Schumann
Freelance Journalists
Public Relations and Media Liaison of the VKD
On behalf of the German Chefs’ Association (VKD)
Tel.: +49 611 7239 239
Mobile: +49 171 316 4178
www.vkd.com, www.kochrebellen.de
Email: [email protected]
1st Yangon Culinary Young Chefs Challenge ended and supported WACS FEED THE PLANET initiative
The 1st Yangon Culinary Young Chefs Challenge 2013 successfully finished just few days ago. Even though the event is already behind us, excellent atmosphere, interesting program, satisfied competitors and sponsors as well as the great number of visitor will be still talking about this great competition and cheerfully waiting for the next one.
The entire competition was conducted under the supervision of WACS certified Judges and other national and international professionals that followed the highest standards. While the winners proudly and justifiably received their prizes, sponsors or the competition made sure they received some valuable awards as well. Furthermore, during the event educational workshop on food safety and hygiene, Halal diet and modern culinary trends was held thanks to the wonderful presentations made by international speakers. Furthermore, Myanmar professional baristas preformed a two hour session ‘Barista training’ as to educate young Myanmar baristas and raise the awareness of this important hospitality segment.
As being a WACS member since 2000, Myanmar Chefs Association has been actively involved in many aspects of raising culinary standards, helping national industry to flourish and also provide help those in need. Thanks to the initiative made by the President of the Myanmar Chefs Association and Board member of WACS initiative World Chefs Without Borders, Oliver Esser Soe Thet, and his team a great humanitarian action was taken. All the bakery and pastry products were brought to an organization that takes care for elder people, offering them a great gastronomy experience that mostly likely they haven’t had the chance to taste. Cooked meals went in hands of those in need, some skillfully and completely sanitary safe wedding cakes made by the competitors were sold for the Chefs Without Borders Myanmar, purposes that will be again use for humanitarians activities. Moreover, some hot meals made by volunteers and WCWB Myanmar Chefs were specially prepared for charity purposes. “It is all very possible if it’s well planned, taken care of and managed from the beginning”, said Oliver Esser Soe Thet.
Myanmar World Chefs Without Borders, national members of the Myanmar Chefs Association, were greatly active the last couple of years and showed excellent results in their humanitarian missions like, closely related also to WACS Feed The Planet initiative:
“Health Food for Healthy Teeth”, financial aid for medical operations and treatments, schools reconstruction and building, “Clean the beach” activity”, plenty of good actions in the field of community public service, donations for sport and recreational activities as well as the medical equipment, volunteer work to raise the educational standards and make knowledge available to everyone. As many new ventures to come, there seem to be no borders for Myanmar Chefs!
To take a look at the official 1st Yangon Culinary Young Chefs Challenge press release as well as the photos, follow the links below:
Myanmar Chefs Association official press release
1st Yangon Culinary Young Chefs Challenge photo album
1st Yangon Culinary Young Chefs Challenge ended and supported WACS FEED THE PLANET initiative
The 1st Yangon Culinary Young Chefs Challenge 2013 successfully finished just few days ago. Even though the event is already behind us, excellent atmosphere, interesting program, satisfied competitors and sponsors as well as the great number of visitor will be still talking about this great competition and cheerfully waiting for the next one.
The entire competition was conducted under the supervision of WACS certified Judges and other national and international professionals that followed the highest standards. While the winners proudly and justifiably received their prizes, sponsors or the competition made sure they received some valuable awards as well. Furthermore, during the event educational workshop on food safety and hygiene, Halal diet and modern culinary trends was held thanks to the wonderful presentations made by international speakers. Furthermore, Myanmar professional baristas preformed a two hour session ‘Barista training’ as to educate young Myanmar baristas and raise the awareness of this important hospitality segment.
As being a WACS member since 2000, Myanmar Chefs Association has been actively involved in many aspects of raising culinary standards, helping national industry to flourish and also provide help those in need. Thanks to the initiative made by the President of the Myanmar Chefs Association and Board member of WACS initiative World Chefs Without Borders, Oliver Esser Soe Thet, and his team a great humanitarian action was taken. All the bakery and pastry products were brought to an organization that takes care for elder people, offering them a great gastronomy experience that mostly likely they haven’t had the chance to taste. Cooked meals went in hands of those in need, some skillfully and completely sanitary safe wedding cakes made by the competitors were sold for the Chefs Without Borders Myanmar, purposes that will be again use for humanitarians activities. Moreover, some hot meals made by volunteers and WCWB Myanmar Chefs were specially prepared for charity purposes. “It is all very possible if it’s well planned, taken care of and managed from the beginning”, said Oliver Esser Soe Thet.
Myanmar World Chefs Without Borders, national members of the Myanmar Chefs Association, were greatly active the last couple of years and showed excellent results in their humanitarian missions like, closely related also to WACS Feed The Planet initiative:
“Health Food for Healthy Teeth”, financial aid for medical operations and treatments, schools reconstruction and building, “Clean the beach” activity”, plenty of good actions in the field of community public service, donations for sport and recreational activities as well as the medical equipment, volunteer work to raise the educational standards and make knowledge available to everyone. As many new ventures to come, there seem to be no borders for Myanmar Chefs!
To take a look at the official 1st Yangon Culinary Young Chefs Challenge press release as well as the photos, follow the links below:
The Polish Culinary Cup that took place September 24–25, as the most prestigious national culinary competition for professionals in Poland announced its winners. As stated, the primary purpose of this competition is to develop Polish gastronomy, promote it outside Poland and create content-related and organizational standards for regional culinary competitions.
Members of the international judging team were: Jaroslaw Uscinski, Chairman of the jury, Gissur Gudmundsson WACS President, Armand Steinmetz (Luxembourg), Miltos Karoubas (Greece), Jean-Bernard Mahut (France), Jos Van Grunsven (Netherlands) and Dragan Unic (Sweden). The international team of judges was delegated to judge the Finals, held on the second day of the competition, September 25th. After many great dishes, seven long hours, difficult decisions to choose the best three among ten teams, the judging team joined their opinions and elected the winners. Just before the gala dinner started, the names of the winning teams were announced. As reinforcement to this great competition, many sponsors joined and gave their contribution through valuable support and prizes for the competitors. Even there was a challenging task to put together bay leaf, chocolate and venison, as obligatory ingredients, and create a tasty and appealing dish, each team showed its creativity and skills and certainly gained new experience and knowledge for the next time.
Polish Culinary Cup is a yearly competition, held during Polagra Gastro Gastronomy Fair in Poznan. This international trade fair for gastronomy is situated in spacious, modern and well equipped halls. Each hall was representing certain hospitality segment – food, manufacturers, specialized companies, distributors, industrial and logistical machines, restaurant and bar inventory etc. The entire venue was professionally organized, with a diverse offer and caught great attention of many visitors – professionals as well as culinary enthusiasts.
Undoubtedly, this year’s Polish Culinary Cup set up higher standards but also raised expectations to present the upcoming innovations and trends. In the meantime, there will certainly be exciting news coming from Polish chefs!
About the Cup: The Polish Culinary Cup has been organized by the Poznan International Fair and the Wielkopolska Chamber of Gastronomy since 2000. From its first edition, it has been supported by the most important and most prestigious Polish culinary societies, which share their content-related and organizational experience. They include: The Polish Chefs and Pastry Chefs Association, Chefs’ Club Foundation and Euro-Toques Polska. The Polish Culinary Cup consists of three stages, which guarantees that the winners are Polish chefs being true masters of the cooking craft. At the first stage, the Program Council of the Polish Culinary Cup assesses and grants KPP semifinal nominations to winners of maximum fifteen best competitions. The second stage is the semifinal of the Polish Culinary Cup, qualifying maximum ten teams to the final. The jury of the semifinal comprises Polish authorities in gastronomy. The final is the third stage of the competition, selecting the winners of the Polish Culinary Cup. The work of the Polish Culinary Cup finalists is assessed by an independent, international jury, composed of the greatest international culinary personages.