Neil Jewell cooks up gem of a pizza at the 2010 Global Pizza Challenge at Hostex Cape
The 2010 Global Pizza Challenge (GPC) South Africa competition was held during Hostex Cape last week, from 8 to 10 March at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
Taking top spot was Neil Jewell from Bread and Wine in Franschhoek, with his aubergine and confit Karoo lamb with buchu pizza.
This year, the Peppadew category offered entrants the opportunity to win R10 000 by using diced sweet piquant peppers. Tammy Henton from the Piccolo Mondo restaurant at the Michelangelo Hotel won for her slow cooked duck, sweet potato crisps and Peppadew dressing pizza.
As the 2010 Global Pizza Challenge South Africa Champion, Jewell is set to travel to Melbourne, Australia to represent Southern Africa in the next international competition.
The panel of judges from the South Africa Chefs Association (SACA) had the task of assessing some 70 entry recipes for originality, balance, creativity as well as excitement factor. A total of 20 finalists were selected.
Each competing finalist produced four pizzas, two for the judges' table and two for the keen crowds at Hostex Cape. Supporters were encouraged to voluntarily 'pay' for slices by donating to this year's chosen charity, the Uitsig (Animal) Rescue Centre, founded by Denay Saunders of Joostenburgvlakte in Cape Town. Some R1300 was raised.
Martin Kobald, honorary president of SACA says: "This year it was Cape Town's turn to produce a knockout pizza recipe and it's a far tougher international competition as there are now more countries entering the race. In this year's event, pizza will also be tossed up in the air in Singapore, Shanghai, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Melbourne, Sydney, Dubai, Windhoek and Auckland. Ho Chi Minh took place in December 2009 and Singapore follows straight after South Africa, in April 2010."
Australian chef Glenn Austin founded the competition in 1999 as an Australian cookery concept to promote the fastest growing fast food group in the world. Since inception, Austin's idea has spread to Africa and Asia, as a challenge to chefs to expand their imagination beyond the standard Margarita cheese and tomato offering.
"What is tremendous about this competition is that South African chefs are offered the opportunity to compete against countries and flavours that they would not normally experience. We feel sure that sooner rather than later, South Africa will bring home the main prize, simply because we love to experiment and try out new culinary ideas," adds Kobald.
The challenge, in partnership with global dairy company Clover Fonterra and equipment sponsor Prenox, is now in its second year in South Africa. It is open to individual pizza makers, whether representative of a stand-alone pizzeria, restaurant, take-away outlet, hotel, suburban eatery or home enthusiast. The four categories include: chicken or meat; seafood; vegetarian and specialty or dessert.
This year, the Global Pizza Challenge again received the support of the 94.7 Rude Awakening Team and Mimmos Italian restaurant franchise. Radio DJ Jeremy Mansfield produced a Moroccan-inspired RAW Pizza (taken from the name of his breakfast radio show), which is being served in select Mimmos outlets across Gauteng to raise funds for Food4Africa children's feeding scheme.
Competition sponsors this year included Clover Fonterra, Prenox, Unilever FoodSolutions, Nestl Professional, Hychem, Patleys, Goldcrest, Golden Cloud, Pepsi, Original* Iced Cocktails, Little Leaves (microgreens), Peppadew, Tiger Brands, Bose, Gearhouse, Mac Brothers, Southern Sun Hotels and Hostex.
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.