By Wendy Elliott
welliott@kingscountynews.ca
NovaNewsNow.com
Chef Peter Dewar went to the World Culinary Olympics last month and came home happy with Canada’s fourth place finish.
One of nine members on the national team for the last four years, Dewar - who teaches at the NSCC Kingstec campus - said Canada’s standing was good, considering 32 countries competed.
“It’s quite an honour to compete at the world level,” he said. The competition was held in Erfurt, Germany. The top three spots in the Culinary Olympics went to Sweden, Norway and Germany.
The national culinary team received a gold score in the Restaurant of Nations Hot Kitchen and silver in Cold Platter Display. The overall score was 89.15 and close to a gold ranking.
Hot Kitchen is an extremely challenging competition, Dewar said, given that it involved the preparation of a three-course dinner for 100 people. Dewar was one of only two members of the team from Atlantic Canada. The other hails from Newfoundland.
The World Culinary Olympics takes place once every four years. Culinary Team Canada members are chosen by their peers and volunteers who participate on their own time.
The national team held a number of practice sessions. Dewar said there were eight dry runs held across the country. The culinary arts chef instructor has been to international competitions before in places like Luxembourg. He also trained for two years in Switzerland.
Dewar was able to look at food trends in Germany and he hopes to show his students the skills he picked up being part of the team.
“It’ll trickle down,” he chuckles, “and hopefully give them a leg up.”
Dewar says he find inspiration in the Annapolis Valley with its abundance of food.
“It’s a great place to learn.”
He is glad the intense travel is over and appreciative of the tremendous amount of support he received from NSCC staff.
WEBLINK: www.culinaryteamcanada.ca
