The Golden Spoon Awards and The Desire of Elevating Vietnamese cuisine

The contest has left impressive footprints behind so that who loves culinary work can follow and contribute to elevate Vietnamese cuisine onto international level. One of the most impressive aspects was the jury that included all elite experts.

The appearance of “Chef of the Century” Eckart Witzigmann (rightmost) as professional judge showed a huge effort to improve The Golden Spoon contest’s scale and Vietnamese cuisine of the Organization.

“Chef of the Century” effects

The most expected judge in the contest was “Chef of the Century” Eckart Witzigmann, who received the esteemed 3-star Michelin in 1979. After Japan, China, and Singapore, Viet Nam is the 4th Asian country that he has visited.

Chef Eckart Witzigmann opened that since the first time he had been a judge in a culinary contest years ago, he promised himself not to be in that position anymore because giving complimentary or censure, even to younger generation, was hard for him to say it out. Therefore, when he broke his promise and agreed to be a judge of The Golden Spoon contest 2016, that was a incredible chance and huge favor for Vietnamese professional chefs and Vietnamese cuisine.

At the final round, Eckart Witzigmann gave lots of productive comments about expertise and creativity of Vietnamese chefs, and also he was impressed by featured pure spices and ingredients of Viet Nam. He agreed with the statement, “Viet Nam is qualified to be the world’s kitchen.” That far-famed judge also consulted and shared his own valued experiences that every profession chefs had to feel lucky and honored to be there.

Runner Vu Hoang My – guest judge and The Golden Spoon’s ambassador said that money was not the matter to have “Chef of the Century” Eckart Wirzigmann being here. We might consider it was a rare and incredible opportunity for Vietnamese culinary culture.

There were 13 judges in the final round, in which included 2 guest judges of nutritional aspect, 1 guest judge from showbiz, 1 general judge from the organization, and 9 professional judges. 6 out of 9 professional judges are international chefs and food experts.

The Golden Spoon is becoming qualified and reliable contest with the jury of experienced domestic and international experts.

The appearance of The New York Times

In the Golden Spoon 2016 final round appeared reporters from The New York Times (US). Representatives of the famous daily newspapers were so impressed by Vietnamese chefs’ performance and surprised by the huge scale of The Golden Spoon contest.

Guest judges from Vietnamese showbiz were well-known names as elite artist Kim Xuan, singer Nguyen Phi Hung, and runner Vu Hoang My. They are the faces and contributors to introduce and advertise Vietnamese cuisine to further markets.

About the organization, Mr. Ly Huy Sang – Deputy General Director of Ming Long I company, Deputy Chief of The Golden Spoon Contest - announced that the contest would be paused in 2007 so that the organizer would have time to check out and renovate the whole program. However, he revealed some plans to bring Vietnamese cuisine to international market, in which to search chances for winning chefs from The Golden Spoon Awards to compete in regional and international competitions. Those were concrete steps to elevate Vietnamese cuisine onto higher level, where it should belong to.

By Thanh Nien