Cricket fans have the Proteas; rugby fans have the Springboks; and South African food-lovers have a team of men and women in chef’s whites who will fly the South African flag when they compete against more than 40 nations in the IKA Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany, in October.
Manager of South African National Culinary Team, Heinz Brunner of Crown Outsourcing Consultants said, “The IKA Culinary Olympics is the oldest and most prestigious global culinary competition; an event that, like the sporting Olympics, takes place only once every four years. The South African National Culinary Team is honoured to participate once again. We have been hard at work for four years, fine-tuning and practising our Olympic menu to prepare ourselves for one of the toughest challenges on the culinary calendar.”
The chefs on the South African National Culinary Team include:
- Blake Anderson of 3SIXTY and Billy G, Montecasino
- Henrico Grobbelaar of Southern Sun, The Cullinan
- Dion Vengatass of Belmond, Mount Nelson Hotel
- Kirstin Hellemann of Belmond, Mount Nelson Hotel
- Minette Smith of HTA School of Culinary Art
- Arno Ralph of Lindt & Sprungli SA.
In the spirit of the wording on the team emblem Masakhane, which means let’s build each other, the South African National Culinary Team is inviting the nation to follow their journey to the IKA Culinary Olympics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram under their newly-launched #SAOlympicChef.
“A strong show of support and interest on social media by our fellow South Africans and foodies will give our team a tremendous boost towards bringing home the gold,” Brunner said.
Messages of encouragement should include the #SAOlympicChef.
The 2016 Culinary Olympics will take place from 22 to 25 October.
The South African National Culinary Team will participate in the IKA Culinary Olympics under the auspices of the South African Chefs Association.
Their participation has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of headline sponsor LSC/Imperial, along with partners City Lodge Hotel Group, ChefWorks, Turn ‘n Slice and N1 Restaurant Suppliers.
