Today was
the first day of the bread competition.
The competition is part of the Kaohsiung Food Show, which is held
annually. The competition is part of the
Food Show and sponsored by ‘Ambassadeurs du Pain’ of France. A Chef winner will represent Taiwan at the
upcoming ‘Mondial du Pain’ in Paris.
I’m not
sure how many Countries compete at this competition but it is quite
recognizable around the world.
A few years
ago a Taiwanese Chef won the world title and now owns and operates his own
bakery here in Kaohsiung and it is constantly packed with patrons wanting to
purchase his products. He has also
published a book (his life) and a movie has been produced showing his life
story from childhood to present day. A
component of the movie was filmed in one of the baking labs at NKUHT.
Hsaio-I met
me at the apartment and then we took taxi to the Centre. Yes, the centre is only at the end of the
street (maybe 1500 feet) but because of my injury I cannot walk that far.
I took the
wheelchair with me as I thought it would be more easy to move around and for
some it yes, but I think I will use crutches tomorrow.
The show
seemed well attended. This was the first
day of the Food show and I’m thinking tomorrow (Saturday) could be a different
situation.
There are a
total of 6 competitors vying for this position of winning and 3 of them compete
today (Friday) and 3 will compete tomorrow (Saturday).
Various
companies sponsor the competition hence beautiful ovens, proofers etc. are at
the disposal of the Chefs. The competitors
prepare all the smaller breads on-site and they can bring all the components
for their showpiece but must be assembled on-site.
Judging
commences at 3pm.
The
criteria for the competitor is as follows:
1 Showpiece
– maximum 60cm length, width and height
Standard
Bread – 10 baguettes, 5 loaves, remaining dough in 3 shapes
Health/Nutrition
– 3 breads
Biological
– 3 breads
Typical
Bread – using 3 kg flour
Sandwich
Viennoiseries
– puff dough (3), raised dough (braided)
There is a
total of 500 points for all the products to be produced.
Another
component of the competition consists of their work environment.
Organization
Sanitation & Hygiene
Respect to regulations
8th Saturday
Today was
the second day of the competition and the other 3 competitors preparing their
work.
There was
significant notice in craftsmanship from today’s competitors compared to
yesterdays. When I asked Fred
(coordinator of event) if the competitors were chosen at random to which day
they would compete or he had a say in who competed on which day and his
response was it wasn’t public.. haha I
know what that means.
Since today
will draw a larger crowd to the show, it makes sense to have the more creative
competitors to display their talent to the crowds. Of course one doesn’t know exactly how a
competitor will perform but Fred knows where each competitor works and knows
the history of each of them and has seen their portfolios. Nothing wrong with this process/system but
one could clearly see the difference in their work.
With that
said, it was a great day and both days combined very rewarding and exciting.
Despite me
being in a wheelchair on first day and crutches on second day, I had plenty of
help moving around. Many of the baking
and pastry students were there assisting with this event (similar to our
competition events at Humber) so I asked one of them to be my photographer
hence a lot of great photos taken.
(Thank You Fiona)
The judging
commenced at 3pm on both days and Friday we finished at 4:30 and today we
finished at 4:00. Not sure why or how we
finished half an hour earlier today.
I quite
sure of who the winner will be based on the outcome of all the competitors work
but the winner will be announced tomorrow at 10am. I won’t be there but Fred will let me know who
it is. He alone has tabulated all the
marks and is the only person who knows the winning Chef.
At 6:30pm
everyone involved with the competition was invited to a dinner gathering in the
north part of the city. Not far from the
Exhibition Centre – near the MRT station Aouzidi. The taxi picked me up at 6 then we went to
the hotel where Michelle is staying and picked her up.
We arrived
around 6:30’ish and mostly everyone was there.
The dinner was catered but in a different sense. Across the street from where we were was a
small eatery, so all the food was ordered from there and the workers carried
the food from across the street and delivered it to the room we were in on the
6th floor. They continued
this delivery process well into the evening.
Always bringing something new. It
was very tasty.
Hsaio-I was
in charge of the wines and champagne and she had two of her Applied English
students manning the wine bar.
The evening
was great by mingling with everyone and having some down to earth
conversations. I have made good contacts
with the Australian Chefs and the French Ambassadors of the Mondial du Pain
organization. All the judges involved
are either professors or working in the industry with their own company.
Tomorrow
will be the big announcement who the winner is.
Will post that once I know.
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