31 UAE chefs at World Congress of Chefs in Norway

Aug 14, 2014

The delegation from the UAE in Norway.

A delegation of 31 chefs from the United Arab Emirates joined the World Congress of Chefs in Stavanger, Norway last month.

Andy Cuthbert, chairman of the Emirates Culinary Guild and general manager of Madinat Jumeirah C&I, Jumeirah Hospitality, has also been heading the World Chefs Global Committee for Young Chefs Development. He said: "One of the key experiences was that the Congress gave over 50 young chefs from all over the world the opportunity to experience a Congress, a new country and the chance to form lifelong bonds."

He continued: "These are the chefs who will take over the World Chefs in the future. It was very exciting at the Bill Gallagher Young Chefs Forum."

Radisson Blu Hotel Dubai Deira Creek director of kitchens and Emirates Culinary Guild president Uwe Micheel was a member of the jury which judged the Global Chef Competition said he noticed high standards in all the three World Finals - The Global Chef, The Global Pastry Chef and Hans Bueshckens Young Chef titles, each of which had seven finalists.

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Madinat Jumeirah's Achala Weeransinghe represented Middle East and Africa in the pastry chef competition, and came fourth. Radisson Blu Hotel Dubai Deira Creek's Rahil Rathod came fourth in the Hans Bueschkens Young Chef Competition. Both began their journey one-and-a-half years ago by first winning in UAE, and then winning the continental semi-finals in Namibia.

Micheel said the educational programme during the World Congress showed great balance of sessions.

He added: "It was really a good balance... just to name a few, there was the Dilmah Tea Seminar, sessions for Food and Beverage pairing, seminars for sustainability, chefs' responsibility for fitness and nutrition for themselves and the guests, the art of sous-vide cooking, and a session by a chocolate master."

The Congress of World Chefs, which was hosted by the ECG in Dubai World Trade Centre in 2008, occurs every two years. The next Congress will be held in Athens, Greece in April 2016.