CGC team aiming for gold at Culinary Olympics
Fifteen members of the Craft Guild of Chefs will be heading off for Erfurt in Germany later this week to compete in the 22nd IKA Culinary Olympics.
The team, led by Andy Twells (pictured, right) of Compass Group, is made up of a mixture of senior and junior chefs from the industry looking to win gold medals and gain valid experience, respectively.
The junior chefs are the first to join the CGC’s Culinary Academy and will compete in what is described as the “most important event” in the cooking calendar.
Twells said: “This trip will give our senior members a chance to finalise their medal collection and the juniors some valuable experience.
“It’s important that as a regional chef community we compete at these events. From a networking point of view it’s very useful and from a personal point of view the experience is invaluable as a chef.”
Over four days, from 18 to 22 October, members of the CGC team will compete with thousands of chefs from more than 35 countries.
The team will compete in the Regional section of the competition where members will have to prepare a range of dishes for judges that will be displayed cold.
Marks are given for the candidate’s abilities in presentation/innovation, composition, professionally correct preparation and arrangement/serving.
Twells said the trip will be challenging, but one the team will never forget.
“They will be up for 36 hours solid. They won’t be able to go to sleep because it’s such an intense time, but they’ll get exposed to lots of different experiences that they won’t get just working in their kitchens here.”
The CGC Culinary Olympics team line up is:
Andy Twells – Compass Group
Christopher Baston – Executive Chef, Marriott County Hall, Westminster
Sophie Wright – Consultant Chef
James Owen-Davies – Eton College
Matt Shropshall – Pub Group Development Chef
Fergus Martin – Executive Chef, Robinson Conference Centre
Lisa Mansel – Pastry Chef, Langham’s
Liz Bravery – Pastry Chef, Marriott County Hall, Westminster
Natalie Cullerton – Junior Sous Chef, RBS, Canary Wharf
Dennis Mwakula – Chef Manager, Compass (Fujitsu Siemens)
Bernard Englehardt – Executive Chef, Milburns
Ben Ford – Head Chef, Compass Group
Vince Cottam – Senior Lecturer, Westminster Kingsway College
Lahiru Jayasekara – Chef de Partie - Le Manoir aux Quat` Saisons
Wayne Harris – Head Chef private schools
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