Chefs hit the water for culinary regatta

Chefs had their culinary skills and their sea legs tested last month, at the ninth edition of the S.Pellegrino Cooking Cup in Venice, Italy.

This unique competition — organised in co-operation with the Compagnia della Vela, Venice’s historic yacht club — saw several teams take part in a ‘cooking regatta’, whereby chefs cooked in the boat galleys as the boats themselves were raced.

This year’s event saw ten young chefs from around the world, selected by elected by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, competing for the grand culinary prize.

The lucky contenders were selected on the basis of several key requirements, a spokesperson for the renowned water brands explained.

“They had to be under 30 years of age and have professional experience of working in a restaurant — as either owners or chefs — in their particular countries,” she said.

Meanwhile the 10 boat crews from Australia, Belgium, the UAE, Germany, the UK, Italy, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Switzerland were also vying for titles: the ‘Inside the Cooking Fastest Boat’ award, for the boat recording the best time, and the title of ‘Inside the Cooking Winner’, awarded to the best trade-off between boat and chef.

“The S.Pellegrino Cooking Cup and above all the Inside the Cooking competition offer a prestigious opportunity for the young chefs attending to measure their skills for culinary innovation and to test themselves in the spotlight of an international and glamorous stage,” said a spokesperson for event organisers S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna.

This year, the brands also introduced another award — Young Chef of the Year 2009, which organisers dubbed a “launch-pad for talented young chefs determined to succeed in the complex world of fine dining”.

The new award aimed to recognise the best recipe to come from the group of young competitors, according to the judges’ criteria of taste, difficulty of preparation, match with wine and water and dish presentation.

After the regatta, when judges had sampled and evaluated all the dishes prepared, the winners were announced.

Città di Grisolera, with the chef Paola Budel on board, won the S.Pellegrino Cooking Cup Trophy for outstanding sailing and cooking.

The chef wowed the panel with his recipe for Cape Malai curry, Dukkah lamb, tuna Tataki, scallop in pancetta and oyster on samphire.

The Inside the Cooking Fastest Boat prize was awarded to the UAE crew, while Italy conquered the Inside the Cooking Winner, a prize awarded to the crew with the best combination of boat and chef.  

Meanwhile South African chef Henrico Grobbelaar was awarded the Acqua Panna and S.Pellegrino Young Chef of the Year — an achievement described by organisers as “a real launch for a young talented chef with the ability to become an international fine-dining star”.