“Chef of the century” looking for new stars in Vietnamese culinary contest

Chef of the century Eckart Witzigmann would be at the final round of The Golden Spoon contest 2016.

Southeastern Asian chefs community is so eager because of Eckart’s appearance, and a question is raised, “How to find the star chefs of The Golden Spoon contest 2016?”

Pioneers

In culinary history, the first chef became “the star” was Bartolomeo Scappi, an Italian chef who was private cook of Pius V the Pope in 16^th century. Bartolomeo Scappi was also the first author of modern style cookbook named Opera.

Long time after that, in 19^th century, another French chef – Marie-Antoine Carema – was the second “star” of the culinary community. Carema was not only a chef of famous restaurant, who was invited to cook for the most noble and topping parties, but also the father of nobly French recipes, which have been used till nowadays.

After that was the golden time of culinary world with many stars had appeared, especially when Michelin organization started starring chefs and it had begun “Oscar of culinary industry” period.

Next was the outbreak of cookbooks and culinary-related TV shows.

In Viet Nam, as Food Artisan Bui Thi Suong said, we had had passed the time when cooks were underestimated. Gradually, chefs have been more respected and culinary career has been getting onto higher class recently.

In bookstores, we have seen a separate section for cookbooks. Moreover, we have had numerous culinary TV shows, and big brands have been willing to pay not only Misses or singers but also professional chefs to be their ambassadors since they have shown the same attraction.

Truc Linh vegetable rolled calf shank in wild pepper sauce – Crab paste, foie gras, and salted lime fish sauce.

And hard training

How far from a chef to a starred chef is? Google has answered that it was too far to be estimated. The only way to become a good chef is hard training.

Academic courses, relentless practicing, and persistent learning of skills, updated information, and new culinary trends are just parts of the journey to the peak of this career.

In addition to achieve are passion, creativity, and profession. However, being a starred chef is another totally different story.

We need to learn everything. This seems right for chefs who want to chase bright success.

Super-chef David Thai once talked when testing in The Golden Spoon contest, “Look at the gait of a chef, we can tell how professional he is.” Therefore, on the way to success, there is no trace of lazy men.

Chef Le Vo Anh Duy (red scarf) was working in semi-final round.

No one would understand about hard training more than chef Le Vo Anh Duy, an appealing figure who seized the 1^st prize of southern semi-final round.

His story is about a Law student and a singer who wanted to learn to cook. Starting as a labor in kitchens, he persistently has stepped onto higher culinary stairs. His story has enthusiastically inspired culinary students at the contest.

Chef Duy is also a rare competitor who consistently has participated in all 4 seasons of The Golden Spoon and gradually gotten closer of the championship. He is a representative of passionate and ambitious young chefs of Viet Nam.

Mr. Eckart Witzigmann will be one of The Golden Spoon judges at the final round. Having an opportunity to stand by a world big star, will our chefs learn a way to touch at the public’s heart?

By Kien Chinh/TTTG