President’s Message

July 2008

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Singapore Food Festival 2008
As you read, we are in the mist of the annual Singapore Food Festival, an event that is for everyone here in Singapore that promotes our traditional culinary heritage and yet celebrates the progress of our cuisine over the years. SCA is proud to be a partner in this exciting event where we will assist in judging the City Gas Singapore Chef Awards. Quite a few of our members, Chef Leo Kee Meng, Chef Alfred Lee and Chef Eric Low are also contributing in by conducting cooking demonstrations over the entire month of July at Lau Pasat and Suntec City Tropics Atrium. I take the opportunity to encourage all fellow members here to go with your family and friends to the many eating places taking part as selected venues of the festival. Not only it is an educational experience to rediscover nostalgic foods of the yesteryears, it will be an inspiration for many here to discover new sensations and flavours.

Europe Bocuse d’Or
The recent Bocuse d’Or in Europe 2008 was won by Norway and follow by Denmark then Sweden. Best Fish and Meat dish went to France. As for the Best Commi was Estonia . It was an astonishing event and the crowd was awesome. Its like a football stadium where everyone of their own country’s supporter were shouting and cheering away. Mr Paul Bocuse himself was the Guest of Honor during this event. Other guests includes previous Bocuse d’Or winner from 1993 , 1997 and 2007.

IKA HOGA 2008 , Erfurt Germany
As the Olympics in Beijing is drawing near, so is the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany. Our new Singapore National Culinary Team is led by Chef Jasmine Ng from Temaske Polytechnic as Team manager with Chef Yen Koh from Unilever Solutions as Team Captain. They have been working very hard with an intense rehearsal program to synchronize the entire training in Cold display and hot cooking. With extra guidance and inputs from past national team veterans, the progress has been very encouraging but there are still room for improvements. Hopefully Lady Luck will smile a bit on them too when the time comes to due to the possible harsh winter conditions. We wish them all the very best and hope they bring back gold medals.

Healthy Lifestyle
To encourage a healthier lifestyle and keeping fit, SCA is organizing a cycling trip at East Coast Park in August 2008. Please check date on the website and it’s a first come first serve basis. This will be lead by committee member Chef Heman who has an Iron man and triathlon background. We looked forward to it next month as details will be finalized soon. All members are encouraged to attend and let’s turn this exercise program into a fun and stress relieving session not forgetting to enjoy the breeze at the East Coast and take some time to smell the flowers!

Special Thanks
On this note I wish to extend to all of you whether it is in Singapore or any other part of the globe ….enjoy good food and great wine always. Travel safely and most of all be proud, to be a chef.

Eric Teo
President
Singapore Chefs’ Association (SCA)