Lunch international

Aina Keller

High Noon in Stuttgart, six team members, two of them helpers, and 120 guests per competing team: The category Community Catering promises a lunch break at the highest level, the required theme is “roots”. Eight teams compete on each IKA day and the diversity of the teams is immense. Experienced professionals from the community catering, four military teams and, for the first time, a team of humans with handicaps (Culinary Ability Awards) are represented. Anyone booking a ticket for the Restaurant of Community Catering in Stuttgart can expect salads, finger food, main courses with side dishes and a dessert in a free-flow system with front cooking display. This very special lunch break starts daily at half past eleven.

Goosebump moments

The Swedish Fazer Culinary Team will be participating for the third time. Just four years ago in Erfurt, they finished second on the podium alongside Finland. Everybody around team captain Anna Lövgren is highly motivated, “it was a challenge to put the team together, but now the trainings are going extremely well”. The Swedes expect special goosebump moments from the opening ceremony and the entry of the nations – “it is a very special experience to be right in the midst of it”.

The bronze winners from 2016 in this category come from Denmark. “The team is looking forward to seeing many of our incredibly talented colleagues from all over the world and getting an insight into the new trends,” says Dennis Nielsen, team captain of the Community Catering Team Denmark. “We are excited to see if what we have worked so hard on can help put the Danish catering industry on the world map”. Strategy and timing are mostly complete, the road to the opening ceremony is not far anymore. “We often talk about the overwhelming sense of pride that strikes you as a team and as a whole, when you walk into the hall for the opening ceremony – a fantastic experience. And then the feelings, when suddenly the day of the competition is over. The exhaustion and relief, all the training, all the planning, all the many many hours and it’s all over in the blink of an eye.”

Cooking in cold regions

For the SATS team from Singapore everything is still new. Participating in this category for the first time, they not only have respect for their competitors in Stuttgart, but also for the low temperatures. “For some of us the participation in the IKA/Culinary Olympics is the very first visit to Europe in this cold season.” Team captain Than Naing Tun has high expectations for his team and “after the numerous trainings we now have a very clear idea of how we can get the best out of our selected dishes”. “We at SATS are always looking for a better dining experience for our customers,” says Rick Stephen, Kitchen Director at SATS, the largest airline catering and food solutions company in Singapore and the surrounding area. “Participating in Stuttgart is therefore a great learning opportunity for our employees and an opportunity to experience how others see food in the future.”

Double packs

The Scandinavian company Fazer sends two teams (Finland and Sweden), Sweden brings a second candidate, Team Sodexo School Restaurants, and so does Switzerland: this time the Hirslanden Culinaryteam Bernoise will compete as National Catering Team Switzerland, among others with Tobias Jaberg, who has been a diet cook at the Hirslandenklinik Linde in Biel, Switzerland, for three years and previously worked in various restaurant kitchens in the country. The 26-year-old is responsible for the fish course and the vegetarian plate. In the traditional Swiss SVG Trophy qualifier in spring, his team had “only” taken second place and was therefore not actually on the IKA travel list. But the victorious army chefs then cleared the way and used their Trophy victory to compete in Stuttgart as Swiss Armed Forces Culinary Team/SACT. This completes the quartet of military teams that come from Hungary, Taiwan, Great Britain and Switzerland and have been assigned to this category.

Category:

The community catering teams are catering specialists. For the Restaurant of Community Catering their culinary skills will be in demand just as much as their organisational talent.

• Competition: Restaurant of Community Catering – In this competition, teams of four with two supporters are preparing a noon meal for 120 guests each. This year’s culinary topic is „roots“. The dishes are offered in a free flow system, so that the guest can help themselves.

The team with the highest point score will be elected as winner on 19 February 2020.

There are still some tickets available for Restaurant of Community Catering’s noon meal. Book your menu ticket here and be part of the IKA/Culinary Olympics 2020.

 

Teams, competitions, menu tickets: You can find all information at a glance here.

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