From the President

Greetings to all of my chef colleagues, culinarians, and friends from all around the globe. Like usual, it is a great pleasure for me to write to you personally with my thoughts and to give you an overview about the past and the future.

It was a real pleasure seeing everyone who was able to attend Worldchefs Congress & Expo 2022 in Abu Dhabi. I realize how difficult it was for you to travel and leave your workplace or home to attend, especially considering the personal and financial challenges many faced in the past few years. Your efforts and ongoing support are always greatly appreciated.

It is important for the future of chefs worldwide that we continue to maintain a united and strong Worldchefs community, despite the many circumstances and difficulties we face along the way.

From all of us at Worldchefs, a heartfelt congratulations to the Emirates Culinary Guild, Purple Kitchen, and the entire organizing committee for such an outstanding success achieved under extremely difficult circumstances.

The 39th Worldchefs Congress had many highlights including our General Meeting, Global Chef Challenge series, the Billy Gallagher Young Chefs Forum, the world-class expo, Emirates International Salon Culinaire, a wide variety of industry speakers, demonstrations, and so much more.

During the General Meeting and gala dinner, I had the honor to present the 2022 Awards, Medals, and Recognitions. Please join us in celebrating them. You can find a list of the recipients on page 19 of this issue. Once again, congratulations and thank you to everyone for your ongoing contributions to Worldchefs and our global society.

Another highlight of the Congress was the sharing of the CHEFS STAND FOR PEACE ALL AROUND THE WORLD video produced by Worldchefs and Saudi Airlines Catering Company (SACC) featuring Worldchefs members sharing their personal messages for peace. Read more about this on page 7.

During the Congress, Worldchefs Academy announced the launch of the Mandarin Pre- Commis Chef Training Program, now joining English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Italian and German to complete our 7-language library. The Feed the Planet Committee also launched the Sustainability Education for Culinary Professionals Course, which is now available on the mobile app with the Pre-Commis Chef Training Program.

More recently, Worldchefs Academy announced the new Culinary Foundations certificate, with co-branding capabilities introducing Saudi Airlines Catering Company (SACC) as the first co-branding partner to implement this new initiative at the SACC Culinary Academy in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. For details on Worldchefs Academy and the Culinary Foundations certificate, please read the article featured on page 29 of this issue or visit www. worldchefsacademy.com.

Immediately after the Worldchefs Congress, I had the opportunity to attend the World Space Club Kitchen in Frankfurt, Germany with over 100,000 people in attendance. While on stage with BigCityBeats CEO Bernd Breiter and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer to launch the One Billion Meals donation project, I presented Bernd Breiter with the Worldchefs Humanitarian Award in recognition for his efforts. News on this can be found on page 11 and details on how you can get involved will be coming soon.

Of important note, during the 2022 General Meeting, National Society Members by majority vote decided to relocate the 2026 Worldchefs Congress, originally scheduled for St. Petersburg, Russia. Therefore, the new Worldchefs Congress 2026 bid guidelines document was developed with updated requirements and circulated. Submissions by National Society Members will be reviewed by the Board of Directors to determine the final bid candidates, and an online Extraordinary Meeting will be scheduled for voting purposes. In closing, I urge you all to consider the environment and promote sustainability practices including supporting your local food growers and providers. Together, we can continue to impact the hospitality and foodservice industries as well as our own local communities in a positive way.

For those of you able to attend, we look forward to seeing you in Luxembourg at Expogast and the Villeroy & Boch Culinary World Cup. Visit us at our Worldchefs booth in Hall 3. We will be there to welcome and greet you!

As I always say, make the world a better place and believe in the “Power of the White Jacket”. The past two years have put us through a lot of difficult situations starting with COVID, the war in Ukraine, and many natural catastrophes, which should and must enable us to become closer, and to really make some efforts to preserve our amazing Mother Nature and our planet for the next generations.

Many new activities are in the pipeline and the entire Worldchefs team is working hard to create new initiatives.

Wishing you and your families all the best to stay safe and healthy.

With Culinary Regards,

Thomas A. Gugler President, Worldchefs

It is important for the future of chefs worldwide that we continue to maintain a united and strong Worldchefs community, despite the many circumstances and difficulties we face along the way.