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Well the National Conference has come and gone. A very structured conference with many points of interest. The topics for discussion were all interesting, the demonstrations were all topical with Chef Kraal and his "bollocks" recipe probably the most memorable for professional originality as well as the obvious. The guest chef from Canada Cornelia Patterson, President Canadian Federation of Chefs & Cooks was an excellent Ambassador for her country and for all Chefs. She led the discussion under the title of "Women in the Hospitality Industry " with Philippa Holmes & Judith Tabron also on the panel. Though much useful discussion took place I was very disappointed with Tabron's attempt at hogging the centre stage with her tales of SUPPOSED hassles at work. It was only for the media. A great opportunity was marred by one person’s ego.
The Culinary Fare has also been and gone. As usual I met many of you at the show for our annual meet which I would say is one of the most important aspects of the show, the networking. Overall Hawkes Bay did rather well in the range of medals and awards generated. The Polytechnic also featured well in the medal stakes. Considering that no one had entered before I think all entrants did very well. There has been a re-branding of the Hawkes Bay, a new logo & promotion around the title "Wine Country " has been launched and is gaining momentum. You will be seeing a lot of the promotion over the next months. As part of the wine symposium held in New York Vicki Bruhns--Bolderson, Executive Chef at Silini Estates has been asked as guest Chef to cater one of the meals. She is preparing a lunch for over a 1000 guests with the help of the kitchen brigade of the New York Marriott Hotel, with "New Zealand in New York" the main theme.
The Hawkes Bay Food Producers group has also been founded. This is mainly a wide range of primary producers and food producers who deal with the unique Hawkes Bay produce. The aim is to co-operatively promote Hawkes Bay products, food & wine in particular integrated with tourism.Another initiative is the establishment of Hawkes Bay Farmers Market. This will rotate between two sites in Hawkes Bay with the market day held monthly and the first will be at Waikato Gardens Hastings on 29 Th October, 8am to12 noon. The aim is to recreate some of the social aspects of the original markets as well as show off the excellent wine & food produce that is here in the Hawkes Bay.
Also in the final stages of establishment is the Hawkes Bay Food Trail. This is being finalised and will stretch from Wairoa to Norsewood with inaugural Trail maps being available at the launch at this years H.B. show / Labour weekend. The concept is to provide a numbered map, (similar to the current wine trail map) which will provide our visitors with a complete gourmet trip and enable them to experience the range of excellent food available. It will also help to highlight the excellent Chefs who are largely underrecognised & who do so much to
satisfy the ever-growing numbers of visitors to the Hawkes Bay.
As you can see much is happening here, in fact so much is happening it is hard to keep up with it all!! Last week all the competitors from the Culinary Fare were invited by some of the local wine makers to participate in sampling some of their very excellent wines as a recognition for the effort and the results of the competitors, and raising the Hawkes Bay profile. Free wine brought out a lot of chefs as you might gather !! A very pleasant evening. The first of a number of planned get togethers.
Our next meeting will be held at our newest members establishment Mangapapa Lodge on Monday 13 November at 5.30 pm. This will be the last meeting for this year as everyone starts to get very busy. I shall also be out of the country for most of December & some of January.
That 's about all for this time,
On behalf of the Hawkes Bay Branch may I wish you and your families all the very best, have a happy & merry Christmas and may the New Year bring you prosperity.
Regards Roger Dennis,
President Hawkes Bay Branch.
NZ
Chefs Association Inc