July
2002
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LETTER
TO JOHN
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TO STEVE
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It has finally happened and there is now a hole in my Monday nights where the Culinary Fare committee meeting used to be…After a very long absence in the Wellington culinary scene the Wellington Branch of the N.Z. C.A. and the Central Division of the C.F.A. came up with a three day programme of cookery and front of house skills to put us back on the map and give the dedicated food professionals of Wellington a show of their own.
The Culinary Fare idea was floated in October of last year and by Feb plans where firming up and the competition was in need of a home. Space was granted by Donna and Gavin White of ”The Food Show” fame and without their assistance the show would not have gone on! The Food Show in its self was a great event and had loads of interesting culinary delights to see, buy and digest. Also a wonderful way to use yet another of Wellington’s round buildings in non-match time. Thanks must also go to Steve Morris at the WestpacTrust Stadium.
The committee and joint Chairpersons appointed Adam Cunningham Managing Director of Treehouse Training and Operations and Mr Charles Noville as Chief Judge, these gentlemen brought and air of distinguished creditability to the show and proved themselves true professionals, sincerest thanks go to both gentlemen for shouldering the responsibility of the show for the days prior and the 3 show days.
The other vital components for the show are the Class Sponsors, Competitors, Judges, MCs and Helpers. Our major sponsor for the show was Action Dimmock and Moffat appliances it is inconceivable to run a show with out a stove, equipment and you can’t cook without gas so thanks also goes to On Gas, without these Business’ s for the show we would have been back in the beehive with the antiquated stoves of the seventies! In the results each class has been given with its sponsor and we were absolutely delighted with the responses to the classes with the support of the local food suppliers and their eagerness to be part of the event. Some sponsors even travelled some distances to be involved in judging thanks for your support.
To judge ones peers and contemporaries is never an easy task, you often open yourself up for critisim and not all find it easy to sit in judgement of others. Thanks firstly must go to Stephen Thompson and Pip Duncan for the first class judging seminars that they ran in Wellington. This created a very fair and well-informed panel of judges to call upon for the committee. We had over 50 judges doing their thing in Wellington and a number of first time judges, which were supported and assisted by some very competent individuals.
Marcus and I in particular would like to thank the N.Z.C.A. members who travelled to help us with the judging, Steve Barton, Phillip Neverman and Rodger Dennis, apart form being good fun your professional impute was valued greatly.
Our original intent was to start small and grow in the years to come, but the original 10 classes grew into 25 and we ended up with approx 110 competitors not a bad start and certainly enough for me to administer to given that my secretarial skills have not improved much in the past 3 years!! We have received some very positive feedback from those who competeted and hope to have more if we decided to go through this madness again. It highlighted the need for good communication, getting out and selling the idea and planning ahead. We have a couple of areas to pick up on but on a whole have found planning this a very valuable exercise. Well done to all of the competitors, it is gruelling stuff and all received a Certificate of Participation, those awarded medals will receive them by post in the next week.
Marcus was in charge of the M.C’s some would say it is because he likes the sound of his own voice! Indeed his dolcite tones were heard over the p.a system and women around the building went weak at the knees. All joking aside Mr Q pulled some great names out of the bag and convinced them to give their time freely, not an easy thing to do when you are well known or do this type of work for a living. Marcus also provided us with a rugby player to help judge the “Feed a Scrum” mystery box, when we were let down at the last minute by Norm Hewitt due to business commitments.
In closing this has been a great thing to be involved with I have enjoyed
working with N.Z.C.A. members and getting to know another professional
body in The Cookery and Food Association. I hope that it has heighten
awareness for our industry in Wellington and on a whole helped give the
general public an understanding of how hard our industry professional
work to bring them their dinning out memories.
I am off the Valium back onto more than 4 hours sleep a night and the
euphoria in my team is settling. All I can say is you have got to be part
of the Culinary action where ever it is, strive for the best but most
of all get involved with you Branch you make all the difference to us.
Yours in Culinary Friendship
Anita J. Sarginson