Call to enter Chef of the Year competition

21 Apr 2015

The Unilever Food Solutions Chef of the Year 2015 competition has officially launched and entrants from potential culinary stars around the country have been called to enter. For the first time, the competition will be endorsed by the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) and a WACS-accredited judge will oversee the judging delegation as well as the overall judging procedure.

Call to enter Chef of the Year competition

Unilever Food Solutions MD, Michel Mellis, said: "We are very proud of what this competition has contributed to the South African culinary industry and we will continue to strive to improve it every year. This competition has always been about connecting with the chefs and getting to know them, their needs, their aspirations, their creative skills and their talent."

Categories

The 2015 competition features five categories with three prizes in each, representing a total of R120,000 in prize money.

The entry criteria for the categories include:

Senior Chef of the Year: 25 years and over; three-course meal entry using Unilever Food Solutions professional ingredients.

Junior Chef of the Year: 18 to 24 years; three-course meal entry using Unilever Food Solutions professional ingredients.

Team of Four: Bring Your Best - the executive chef and any two chefs from his establishment and one waiter - qualified or unqualified. The team will produce a three-course meal using Unilever Food Solutions professional ingredients and will set up their own themed table décor.

Creative Canapés: Three or more years' professional culinary experience; hot and cold canapés.

Confectionary Showcase: Three or more years' professional culinary experience; focus on cakes and cake decorating.

Prizes for these categories are R15,000 for first place, R10,000 for second place and R5000 for third place in Senior Chef of the Year; R10,000 for first, R6000 for second, and R4000 for third in Junior Chef of the Year; R20,000 for first, R12,000 for second, and R8000 for third in Team of Four; R10,000 for first, R4000 for second, and R2000 for third in Creative Canapés; and R10,000 for first, R4000 for second, and R2000 for third in the Confectionary Showcase category.

To enter the competition, participants in the Junior and Senior Chef of the Year categories and the Team of Four category are required to create recipes using Unilever Food Solutions products and submit their recipes for a starter, main course and dessert with accompanying photographs. For the remaining two categories, chefs are required to submit their recipes for the respective items.

Entries close on 30 June, 2015. From the entries, candidates will be selected for the three semi-final cook-offs. These finalists will be required to participate in mystery basket cook-offs in their respective regions to take place on 27 July in Durban, 29 July in Joburg and 31 July in Cape Town. There will be no regional cook-off for the Creative Canapés and Confectionary Showcase categories. Selected entrants for these two categories will be judged at the competition finals, which will be held at Unilever Food Solutions Head Office in Umhlanga, Durban, on 10 September.

To enter the competition, chefs are invited to complete their entry forms on the online registration by 30 June at www.ufs.com