Success on the Culinary Stage

Ishara JAYAWARDANE

“We are the champions - my friend
And we’ll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the champions
of the world ......”

- Queen

They have done their country proud, these Master Chefs and have returned as culinary heroes.

The Culinary champions. Pictures by Sudath Nishantha

The Chefs Guild of Lanka with a team of 14 chefs recently participated at the 2012 World Culinary Olympics in Germany and brought home 15 Gold, 14 Silver and one bronze medal.

The team comprised of Gerard Mendis (Team Manager), Dimuthu Kumarasinghe (Team Captain) and the team members Shrimal Kulathunga (Jetwing Lighthouse), Manjula Wickrama (Cinnamon Grand), Chamaka Perera (Colombo Hilton), Kasun Premachandra (Heritance Ahungalle) and Sanjeewa Niroshan (Grand Hotel Nuwara Eliya)

“It was our dream to take part in a culinary event like this. The World Culinary Olympics is the zenith of culinary achievement where chefs are concerned. The management in Germany was very helpful. It was a tremendous effort obtaining tickets and accommodation.

The Srilankan Airline ground staff was an absolute brick helping us so much, moving food from one place to another. The arrangements were immaculate as far as the exhibits were concerned. The support was great by the Frankfurt Airline staff. Not one exhibit was damaged such as the wedding cake,” said Chairman Chefs Guild Of Lanka/Team Manager Gerard Mendis.

The outstanding achievement by the Chefs reinforced their ideals and mission:

To expand the goals of chefs/cooks and create new ideas to further enhance their professional status around the island. To focus on training and development for chefs and cooks by setting up training institutions in developed and rural areas in cookery, pastry and bakery.

To promote high quality products and technical knowledge, organize workshops and training courses by linking professional bodies to create awareness of the importance of Culinary Art. Create links of friendship, professional co-operation and mutual understanding. In fact to quote the Chefs Guild: “Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion; the potential for greatness lives within each of us.”

“To succeed in the world culinary stage, our chefs need an edge, something that make us stand out. It is not the size, it’s not the praise...it innovation, its inspiration, its team work”.