President’s Welcome

Welcome to the second, spring 23, edition of Cra Food Artisan, the magazine from the Culinary Association of Wales. We’re barely in April as I write this, but the CAW has already had a remarkable year.

e Welsh International Culinary Championships (covered on page 11) was a great success, and yielded a new champion, Matthew Smith, who proves the old adage if at rst you don’t succeed, try, try and try again, having won at his h attempt. As if it to prove the point that persistence pays o , a er previous bids, Worldchefs Congress, have recently announced that Wales would be the host nation in 2026. In the nal run-o , the awarding panel were swayed by our theme of Pasture, Passion, Plate, the level of commitment from all the organisations behind the bid, the CAW, ICC Wales and Welsh Government, and, ultimately, the amazing quality of food and drink that exists within our border, from our elds and waterways through to the passionate artisans and producers that get it to our plates. We look at this momentous achievement and what it means on p6. Between now and the 2026 Congress, we have the Culinary Olympics in 2024, which we’ll be featuring heavily in the next issue. For now, I’d like to invite any chefs, established or up and coming, who would like the opportunity to compete for their country, to get in touch.

News

It’s been a busy start to 2023 at CAW

Brød

It’s especially satisfying that all this success is happening now, in our 30th anniversary year. It’s been a roller coaster ride since we rst started in 1993 with many highs, and a few hurdles to overcome, which we’ve done with grace and hard work. Many of our longstanding board members cherish our rst WICC in 1994, but my personal landmarks are securing Worldchefs membership in Kyoto, Japan in 2002 and, of course, winning the bid to host the Worldchefs Congress in 2026. We’d love to hear your highlights. To mark the occasion and to celebrate our achievements, past, present and future, we’ll be hosting a very special, black-tie dinner on 20th June at the ICC Wales in Newport. I do hope you can join us. Details are on page 10.

It’ll be a chance to catch up with old friends, make many new ones and give ourselves a well-earned pat on the back as we look to the future. A future that promises much.

In

Arwyn Watkins OBE president@culinaryassociation.wales

It To Win It

Perseverance

World

Wales to host 2026 Worldchefs Congress

Cool As Ice

Why the ICC Wales is the nation’s premier foodie conference venue

e Mighty Quill

Chartists

review

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Cra Food Artisan (© Culinary Association of Wales) is published by the Culinary Association of Wales and produced by Conroy Media Ltd. Production team and contributors: Donna Heath, Rose Tuite, Katy Godsell, Paul Mulligan, James Meredith, Paul Spencer, Mike Lewis and Rachael Phillips.

Sion clinches place in the Global Chefs Challenge final

Sion Hughes, 25, head chef at The Spa at Carden Park, near Chester, excelled in his first senior competition by qualifying for the Global Chefs Challenge final in Singapore next year. He qualified with an Estonian chef from the competition’s North Europe heat, organised by Worldchefs, in Rimini, Italy.

Sion, who won a silver medal, was supported by his commis, Junior Culinary Team Wales captain Calum Smith, pastry chef at Shrewsbury School and coach and mentor, Culinary Association of Wales culinary director Graham Tinsley, MBE, executive head chef at Carden Park Hotel and Spa.

Calum also won a silver medal in the Global Young Chefs Challenge North Europe heat which sadly was not enough to qualify for the final.

Welsh chefs meet Prime Minister at St David’s Day event

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Max Boyce and Sir Bryn Terfel were amongst the guests who enjoyed canapes prepared by a team of Welsh chefs at a St David’s Day reception held at 10 Downing Street.

Chefs from the Culinary Association of Wales prepared savoury and sweet canapes for VIP guests from business, culture and entertainment. The chefs were led by Michael Bates, executive head chef at the Celtic Manor Resort, Newport who was accompanied by work colleagues William Hobbs, food beverage manager, Byron Lewis Burns, senior sous chef and Rebekah Ann Wright, sous chef and Craig Bennett and Jessica Shaw from Cambrian Training Company.

Silver lining for young Welsh chefs at the Culinary World Cup

The Junior Culinary Team Wales celebrated a silver and bronze medal at the Culinary World Cup success in Luxembourg in November.

Competing against 15 other teams from around the world they added the silver medal in the Restaurant of Nations hot kitchen to a bronze medal in the Table of Fire element won earlier in the competition.

The team comprises captain Calum Smith, pastry chef at Shrewsbury School, Harry Paynter-Roberts, sous chef at Carden Park Hotel and Spa, near Chester, Sion Hughes, head chef the Spa at Carden Park Hotel, Stephanie Belcher, chef de partie at Coast, Saundersfoot, Harry Osborne, head chef at the Quay Hotel and Spa, Deganwy and Jay Rees, who is studying for a degree at Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.

Captain Calum Smith praised the hard work by everybody involved with the team. “Overall, we are delighted to win silver and bronze medals, which is a massive achievement for our inexperienced team and for Wales,” he said.

Young Ukrainian refugee wins award for perfect 100% scores

Seventeen-year-old Ukrainian refugee Yuliia Batrak achieved perfect 100% scores in two skills competitions at Welsh International Culinary Championships to win the award for best live open class competitor.

Yuliia fled her home in Kiev with her mum Liudmyla and sister Alona, following the Russian invasion last year. Now a VRQ Level 1 Hospitality student at Grŵp Llandrillo Menai’s Coleg Llandrillo campus, she won gold medals in both the knife skills for fruit and for vegetables and soup making classes.

“In all the years that I have been involved in the industry, I have never known a competitor to compete in skills classes and not drop a point,” said Arwyn Watkins, OBE, Culinary Association of Wales president.

Emily wins through to 2023 Riso Gallo Young Risotto Chef grand final

Emily Sellars, a 19-year-old student chef from Coleg y Cymoedd, clinched a place in the final of the 2023 Riso Gallo Young Risotto Chef of UK and Ireland after winning the Wales heat at the Welsh International Culinary Championships. She went on to compete in the Grand Final at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, after winning a bronze medal in the Wales heat with her dish of Penclawdd cockle and soppressata risotto with parsley and walnut pesto, Caws Teifi and parmesan crisp.

Sharna qualifies for Major culinary competition final after Wales success

Sharna Fraser, a 16-year-old professional cookery student from Cheshire South & West College’s Crewe campus, won the regional semi-final at the Welsh International Culinary Championships to qualify for the junior Major Culinary Challenge Competition final in March.

Sharna, who lives in Shavington and works part-time at her local Hickory’s Smokehouse, cooked a two course menu in an hour, including a vegan starter and a main course of her own choice.