Top Young Chef Competition

NEWS RELEASE

21 July, 2003

TOP YOUNG CHEF COMPETITION

Seven top young apprentice chefs, from Christchurch to Auckland, will be competing in the NZ Pork Industry Board Cook Off, to find the Hospitality Standards Institute (HSI) Cookery Modern Apprentice of the Year, on Friday 25th July at AUT, Wellesley Street, Auckland.

World renowned, New Zealand born chef, Peter Gordon, will be one of an eminent panel of judges to judge the best Cookery Modern Apprentice of the Year. Peter Gordon is in New Zealand as a keynote speaker at the first National Hospitality Training Conference on the 26th July at the Stamford Plaza, Auckland.

Steve Hanrahan, national operations manager of the HSI, says the winner of the “Cookery Modern Apprentice of the Year” title will win a six-week trip to the UK, to work with some of the best chefs in the World. “The winner will be hosted by the British Guild of Chefs, which has been organised by Peter Gordon and is funded by the NZ-UK Link Foundation.”

Steve Hanrahan says Peter Gordon is a strong supporter of the New Zealand hospitality industry through the NZ-UK Link Foundation, which exists to promote educational and cultural exchanges between New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

“The President of the NZ-UK Link Foundation is Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, the Vice Patron is Her Excellency Dame Silvia Cartwright and the Patron is Her Royal Highness Princess Anne. This is a very high powered organisation with the contacts and clout to give young recipients of Link Foundation grants the experience of a lifetime,” Steve Hanrahan says.

Steve Hanrahan says the selection of the seven national competitors has caused quite a buzz in the communities the apprentice chefs come from, with lots of good community support. “The HSI is making a mini documentary of 3 of the competitors progress through the competition, which will be used for training purposes and which has added to the excitement”, he says.

The cook-off takes place between 8.30am-11.00am, Friday 25 July, AUT, Wellesley Street, Auckland.

The eminent panel of judges includes icons of the New Zealand and UK restaurant scenes; Peter Gordon, Judith Tabron, Tony Adcock and Stephen Thompson.

ENDS

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