Culinary Team Depart For International Competition

MEDIA RELEASE
14 May 2007

New Zealand Culinary Team Depart
For International Competition

Six of the country’s leading chefs are set to represent New Zealand next week at the American Culinary Classic (19-23 May) in Chicago.

The New Zealand Culinary Team (NZCT) comprises Jonny Schwass (Sezn Restaurant, Christchurch), Steve Le Corre –(Aoraki Polytechnic, Timaru), Andrew Brown (The Millennium Hotel, Christchurch), Cameron Lawless (Season Café, Auckland), Pauline Nunns (Weltec, Wellington), and Darren Wright (Harbour 71, Akaroa). They will be supported by a crew of three other chefs.

Team business manager, Gary Miller, said the American Culinary Classic is known as one of the world’s top culinary competitions.

“The team will be involved in a four-day culinary battle against representatives from 11 other countries including the Bahamas, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, USA and Wales,” Gary said.

“It’s a challenging competition which will see team members competing in both hot and cold food categories,” Gary said.

“The hot food category requires the chefs to prepare 80 portions of a three-course meal over a five hour period. The cold food competition involves preparing a range of finger foods or tapas, a menu of the day, a restaurant platter and a festive menu of four main course dishes.

“There’s also a pastry category where the team have to prepare two different cakes, a sweet or cheese platter, and four different desserts.”

He said the team has been training hard and are aiming for gold.

“By the time they compete in Chicago, they will have notched up a combined total of more than 500 hours preparation time.”

Gary said having a presence at international competitions such as the American Culinary Classic helps to market New Zealand export goods and further promote the country as a top culinary destination.

After competing in the Chicago Classic, the team plans to take part in other international cooking events including ScotHot in Scotland in 2009 and the Singapore FHA Culinary Challenge in 2010.

ENDS

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