A winning combination
When the British team of chefs compete in the Culinary Olympics in Berlin, September 1996, it will provide another opportunity for us to put the record straight about British cooking - and to put an end to those endless jokes.
To help the team with its efforts, Chef is encouraging chefs and cooking experts to take part by creating a menu that celebrates the best of British produce and cooking - and a two-day trip to Berlin to see the Culinary Olympics could be won in the process.
All you have to do to win the trip for yourself and a partner or colleague, plus a basket of goodies donated by competition sponsor, foodservice distributor W&P Foodservice, is devise a three-course menu featuring the "best of British". If your menu is selected as the winning entry, you will join an elite band of top chefs such as Bruno Loubet, Paul Gayler and David Dorricott, who have volunteered their services as chef consultants to the team.
Although the Culinary Olympics is 12 months away, German organisers have requested the team representing Britain presents three different three-course menus this autumn. One of these will be selected as the actual competition menu to be cooked at the Culinary Olympics - and it could be one lucky reader's!
Before heading off to compete against the rest of the world, the British team is hoping to run a restaurant promotion featuring the menu it will present in Berlin. This winning menu may also feature in a book about the team's efforts at the 1996 Culinary Olympics.
Team manager and development chef at Marks & Spencer, Brian Cotterill, hopes the support of the culinary community will spur the team on to even greater achievements than the record 47 awards - including five gold medals - that it won at the last Culinary Olympics in 1992.
The British team returned from the last Olympics with almost double the number of medals it won in 1988 - and it won more awards than any other team.
"Getting Caterer & Hotelkeeper readers involved in helping us compete with the best in the world is a huge boost to the team. We are already buoyed up from the support we are receiving from several high-profile chefs who are providing inspiration and ideas," says Cotterill.
Ken Knowland, managing director of one of the team's sponsors, W&P Foodservice, told Chef the was happy to support the British team's quest for gold. "The standards of innovation, creativity and skills that the team possess will be more than a match for the other international competitors."
How to enter
All you have to do is devise a three-course menu featuring the "best of British" produce. Don't forget to include the recipes for each course and how many covers your menu will serve.
The following guidelines have been issued by organisers of the Culinary Olympics - your menu MUST comply with them:
The menu has to be prepared completely within five hours.
The following may be brought to the kitchen: basic meat juices, filleted fish, meat ready cut up, ready-made sponge for desserts and decorative ornaments up to 80% prepared (eg chocolate).
The three courses must consist of a hot hors d'oeuvre, using fish, shellfish or poultry; a main course of butcher's meat or game; and a hot or cold dessert. All dishes are to be served plated.
Judging will focus on working methods, correct professional preparation, organisation, arrangement and presentation, and taste.
It would help judges if you include rough sketches or photographs to show the presentation of your dishes.
Please send your "best of British" menu and recipes by 25 August to: Chef, Culinary Olympics Competition, Caterer & Hotelkeeper, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS.
Please include your name, position, work address and daytime telephone number with your entry.
Alternatively, use the Caterer Connect telephone service. Simply dial 0990 10 11 33 and when you are asked for your voicebox number key in 00038. Then give your details and competition answer at the appropriate prompts. The line is open 24 hours and will close for entries at noon on 25 August. Your HELP is needed
The 18-strong British team of chefs and a student team need £70,000 to practice for, and attend the Olympics.
Besides seeking financial support, they are looking for sponsorship of services and equipment including: vans/petrol; accommodation in Berlin; chefs' whites (with team logo); blazers and trousers/skirts; ties, badges and pins; insurance; Champagne and wine for the sponsors' luncheon held prior to the team travelling to Berlin; food and storage for the exhibits and for practice runs, for example, meat, fruit and vegetables; light duty kitchen equipment; table settings and decorations; and specially designed letterheads.
If you can help the team in any way, please write to: Brian Cotterill, president, Chefs & Cooks Circle, PO Box 239, London N14 7NT.
The culinary olympics
The Culinary Olympics - or Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (IKA) - is the world's premier culinary competition, which takes place every four years. The event attracts national teams from 30 countries, plus scores of regional and hotel teams participating in parallel IKA competitions.
The event has been held in Frankfurt, Germany, for almost 100 years and moves to Berlin in 1996. It is held in conjunction with the international culinary art exhibition and foodservice show, IKA HOGA.
The Chefs & Cooks Circle is the only British organisation affiliated to World Association Of Cooks' Societies (WACS), and is therefore responsible for selecting the national and junior teams.
Cotterill says the criteria for selecting the team is a combination of individual skills and team allegiance. "Most importantly, we are looking for chefs who can work together."
