Chefs' group staggers board terms

By Mike Deibert

MONTREAL-The Canadian Culinary Federation (CCFCC) now has a longer term for its president, staggered terms for its executive members and three annual top chef competitions.

At the annual convention of the Canadian chefs' group, attended by about 110 delegates in April at the Delta Montreal hotel, members voted to extend the president's term from two years to three, so that a first-term president doesn't spend most of his time in office getting to learn the job and campaigning for his second term. A person is limited to two consecutive terms as president.

Jud Simpson was re-elected president by acclaim, for a three-year second term.

The members of the national executive are now divided into two groups: those who face election in even years, and those who are elected in odd years. This is to avoid the possibility of a whole new board starting in the same year, with no experienced members on it to guide the others.

The national secretary, Atlantic vice-president and central vice-president are elected in even years; the treasurer, Canadian Culinary Institute chair, eastern vice-president and western vice-president in odd years. They, too, are limited to two consecutive terms.

However, a special exception was made for odd-year members of the executive elected this year so that they will be able to run for a third consecutive term if they wish in 2011.

Since they will have to start a new term next year, they would have only a total of two more years in office if re-elected, for a total of three instead of the usual four. The special one-time exemption passed at the convention allows them to run for a third term, which means they can actually spend five years total in office.

The eastern vice-president is Jacques Lepage from Outaouais, central region vice-president Helmut Markert from Toronto and the western region vice-president Blake Chapman from Calgary.

The national secretary, Simon Smotkowicz from Edmonton, and the Canadian Culinary Institute chair, Rudy Fischbacher from Toronto were both elected by acclaim.

Incumbent national treasurer Busch Dubay from Halifax won the job of national secretary when he defeated Mark Davie of Victoria, the only other person running for the post.

Chefs of the Year

For years, CCFCC members have voted for one of their number to be named Chef of the Year, honouring that person's contributions to the chefs' group and to the culinary profession.

For the award last year, a condition was added that the chef must win a cooking competition. However, a number of CCFCC members objected at last year's convention that there are very good chefs who may not compete but deserve to be honoured.

So it was decided that there would be a CCFCC National Chefs Challenge, with four regional cooking contest winners competing for the national award, and also a Chef of the Year award for a CCFCC member who does not have to compete.

Members can win the Chef of the Year award only once, while they can compete in the Chefs Challenge as many times as they wish.

The Chefs Challenge winner this year was Peter Dewar from Halifax. He won in competition against Mohammed Zai from Montreal, Michael Jenson from Toronto and Chris Thompson from Banff, AB.

Each chef had to prepare a three-course menu for 25 persons using salmon, oysters, lamb leg and sweetbreads.

  Blake Chapman from Calgary was named Chef of the Year. A CCFCC member for 18 years, he has been financial chair for six years and is a member of the national executive. He served two years as president of his local branch.

He devotes a lot of time to mentoring junior chefs and works with local high schools. He has volunteered with the Alberta Culinary Arts Federation and helps organize a number of local charity events, including an Easter Seals dinner, which this year reached the million-dollar mark in fundraising. He has also worked with the Calgary Produce Marketing Association to help raise money for feeding kids in schools.

The third top chef award created this year is Pastry Chef of the Year. A demonstration event was held this year and the first official competition will take place in 2009.

A learning event

Last year organizers made the convention more educational and they continued in the same vein this year with a number of seminars.

At session, sponsored by Cuisine Solutions, chefs demonstrated sous-vide cooking, a trend that is growing among fine dining chefs in the United States.

At another seminar Norwegian chefs showed a variety of uses for Jarlsberg cheese and a cheese call Snofrisk, made from 80 per cent goat milk and 20 per cent cow cream. Both are products of the Norwegian company TINE.

A seminar on chocolate was sponsored by Belcolade and Chocolat Central CJ, a session on beef by the Canadian Beef Information Centre and a seminar on rice by the USA Rice Federation.

Jean-Luc Piquemal, a Quebec City pastry shop and restaurant owner, gave a sugar demonstration.

Other convention sponsors included Unilever Foodsolutions, Garland Canada, Food Supplies, Chef's Hat, Kraft Foodservice, Canolainfo.org, Centre de formation professionnelle Jacques-Rousseau, Multivac, Noircafe and Pec-Nord.

The convention closed with a six-course dinner from the Delta Montreal kitchen.

Next year the chef gathering will take place in Kelowna, BC, in the Okanagan Valley.