The Academy of Food & Wine has named the five teams through to the final of the 2010 Gastronomy Team of the Year, held in association with Discover the Origin.
The teams have each won their regional heat and will now compete in a ‘cook & serve’ final on 19 July at Westminster Kingsway College, London, where they will present a two-course menu with wines to a panel of judges. Their dishes must include Discover the Origin PDO ingredients Parma Ham and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and must be accompanied by a Burgundy, Port or wine from the Douro Valley, also part of the Discover the Origin campaign.
The panel of judges will be looking for dishes that demonstrate careful consideration of ingredients, seasonality, balance of flavours, innovation and that are served with complementary wines. The judges will quiz the teams on their choice of ingredients, details of how they worked together to develop the dishes and their chosen wines.
The 2010 Gastronomy Team of the Year finalists are:
• Andaz, London – head chef Kadir Konuk and head sommelier Joris Beijn
• Fifth Floor, Harvey Nichols, London – chef Jan Kaplan and head sommelier Patrick Salles
• Hotel TerraVina, Hampshire – chef de partie Neil Cooper and sommelier Laurent Richet
• Saffron, Birmingham – executive chef Sudha Shankar Saha and sommelier Aklasul Momin
• Summer Lodge, Dorset – executive chef Steven Titman and head sommelier Clement Robert.
The winning team’s establishment will receive an Academy training bursary of £3,000, along with the team’s personal prize of a 10-day trip to France, Portugal and Italy. The runner-up’s establishment will receive a £2,000 Academy training bursary.
On 19 July the winners of the Academy’s junior chef/waiter competition, Future Stars of Gastronomy, will also be announced. This competition was open to chef and front-of-house students from any college or university.
The 2010 Future Stars of Gastronomy finalists are:
• Preston College – student chef James Green and student sommelier Sophie White
• Thames Valley University – student chef Tom Allerton and student sommelier Gareth Pugh
• University College of Birmingham – student chef Enming Liang and student sommelier Adam Finney
• Walsall College of Arts & Technology – student chef Stuart Morris and student sommelier James Boulton
• West Suffolk College – student chef Shaun Warner and student sommelier Blakenee Green
• Westminster Kingsway College – student chef Jack Howe and student sommelier James O’keeffe.
The winning college will receive an Academy of Food & Wine training bursary of £3,000 together with the winning team’s personal prize of a 10-day trip, courtesy of Discover the Origin, to gain an insight and understanding into the history and provenance behind the products of the PDO campaign. The runner-up’s college will receive a £2,000 Academy training bursary. The final judging for this competition has already taken place.
The Gastronomy Team of the Year and Future Stars of Gastronomy competitions, now in their second year, are designed to highlight the importance of a good working relationship between kitchen and front-of-house staff and to encourage teamwork and innovation between the disciplines.
For further press details email Linda Pettit on linda@tilburstowmedia.co.uk or call 01737 823721/07973 789853. Alternatively call the Academy of Food & Wine on 020 8661 4646 or email helen@acfws.org.
Editor’s notes
About the Gastronomy Team of the Year competition
Upon receipt of the completed entry form, a multiple-choice questionnaire was sent to each team for completion. The judges then marked the questionnaires and selected a number of successful teams from each of the following regions: The South, London, Wales & The Midlands, The North, and Scotland.
The selected teams then submitted a two-course menu (a starter and a main or a main and dessert). All the ingredients used in the preparation of the menu had to be listed and the method of preparation fully explained as well as an overall description of the finished dish. Their dishes must include Discover the Origin PDO ingredients Parma Ham and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and must be accompanied by a Burgundy, Port or wine from the Douro Valley, also part of the Discover the Origin campaign.
The sommelier or front of house team member was asked to state the ‘Discover the Origin’ wines chosen to match each course and supply a full explanation as to why they were selected and how the wines and dishes complemented each other.
A panel of judges then reviewed all the entries and the best team from each region was awarded a Regional Winner Certificate and trophy. Each regional winner (five teams) is then invited to attend a ‘cook and serve’ final on 19 July 2010 at Westminster Kingsway College, London, where they will prepare and serve their two-course meal to the judges and explain why the two matches were selected.
The winner will be announced at a drinks reception after the final and presented with a framed certificate, trophy and details of their prize.
About the Future Stars of Gastronomy competition
Entries were sought from pairs comprising a chef and a front-of-house student, waiter or bar person. The students had to be attending any college or university in the UK offering nationally recognised hospitality and catering qualifications. The college or university must have an in-house restaurant open to the public staffed by current students.
After the initial entry form the teams completed a multiple-choice questionnaire from which a number of successful teams were selected from five regions. The teams were then asked to submit a two-course menu, a starter and main or a main and dessert. All the ingredients used in the preparation of the menu had to be listed and the method of preparation fully explained as well as an overall description of the finished dish.
The sommelier or front of house team member was asked to state the ‘Discover the Origin’ wines chosen to match each course and supply a full explanation as to why these wines were chosen and how they complement the food.
Each of the six regional winning teams then prepared and served their two-course meal for a panel of visiting judges.
The six teams will be invited to attend the final awards ceremony on 19 July 2010 at Westminster Kingsway College, London, where the winning team will be announced at a drinks reception and presented with a framed certificate, trophy and details of their prize.
About the Academy of Food & Wine
The Academy of Food & Wine is a not-for-profit social enterprise organisation, founded in 1988. It is the hospitality industry’s only professional training body dedicated to wine service and food service skills. The Academy’s purpose is to identify, promote and maintain the highest professional standards for the education and training of food and wine waiting staff and bar assistants in the UK hotel, restaurant, catering and bar industry.
The Academy’s objectives are: for every waiter/waitress, wine waiter and bar assistant in the industry to be a member of the Academy – their professional body; to gain greater recognition for these operatives throughout the industry by accreditation, badging and recognition; to help members develop, maintain and advance their knowledge, skills and ability; to provide an interface between educators, service staff and their employers; and to enhance member’s career prospects. Currently the Academy has over 1,000 members.
About Discover the Origin
Discover the Origin is a three-year campaign designed to raise awareness around five key European PDO products: Parma Ham; Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese; Burgundy wines; Port; and Douro Valley wines.
The aim of the campaign is to highlight the importance of these products amongst distributors and food and drink professionals to drive sales. This will be achieved by educating people on the benefits their quality image offers the trade commercially.
The campaign is supported by some key personalities in the world of food and drink: Peter Gordon, head chef of London’s Providores and Tapas Room; Katie Caldesi, TV chef and author; Xavier Rousset, master sommelier and co-owner of Texture; and Gearoid Devaney, past UK Sommelier of the Year. The campaign supports the importance of provenance, good production methods and fair-trading.
The trade bodies behind the campaign are: The Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB), the Port and Douro Wines Institute (IVDP), the Parma Ham and Parmigiano-Reggiano Consortiums.
The PDO stamp of approval is attributed to these five food and drink products certifying that they are unique to a particular region and of outstanding quality.
Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB)– www.burgundy-wines.fr
Port and Douro Wines Institute (IVDP) – www.ivdp.pt
Consortium of Parma Ham – www.prosciuttodiparma.com
Consortium of Parmigiano-Reggiano – www.parmigiano-reggiano.it
For further press information on Discover the Origin please contact:
Westbury Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 207 751 9170
Email: dtopressoffice@westburycom.co.uk
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