Top Culinary Competition Supported by Fiji Gas
Fiji Gas and its partner Moffat, the Australian kitchen equipment manufacturer will be supporting the Moffat Salon Culinaire 2014 competition. This is part of the Hotec 2014 exhibition which takes place at the Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa from the 29th to the 31st October.
The Fiji Chefs Association organizes the Salon Culinaire at the exhibition. It is Fiji’s leading culinary competition with over 300 chefs taking part. There are 25 separate competitions culminating in Fiji’s Chef of the Year Award.
The quality of the event is very high and in previous years Fiji’s Chef of the Year has gone on to compete in international competitions. In 2013 Chef Avinesh Sharma beat rivals from Australia and New Zealand to qualify for the Global chef Challenge in Norway.
The Salon Culinaire first took place in the 1980’s but it lapsed for a few years. The competition has become an annual event since Fiji Gas and Moffat started to support the event in 2004.
At this year’s event Moffat, the Australian catering equipment company, will provide 12 brand new stoves for the competition; the Waldorf 900mm 4 Range Gas Burner Stove model. At the end of the Salon Culinaire the stoves will be sold at a heavily discounted price by Fiji Gas.
The Salon Culinaire is organized by Shalesh Naidu, the executive chef of the Outrigger on the Lagoon hotel. He is Fiji’s first and only Fijian-born 5-star executive chef and has won many prestigious competitions and awards both locally and overseas, including winning Fiji’s Chef of the Year Award.
“The Salon Culinaire is a great opportunity for Fiji’s chefs. It is a chance for them to meet and compete. As a chef you never stop learning and to meet so many talented colleagues is the best way to share recipes and techniques. Every year we see advances in the quality of the competition and in our resorts and restaurants. The chefs are very fortunate to be cooking on brand new stoves donated by Moffat.”
He continued “The competitors have to be really good to impress our judges who are some of the top chefs from the Pacific. We have 5 international judges supported by over 15 top local chefs.”
“Fiji Gas and Moffat are very pleased to be part of the Salon Culinaire. It is important for the quality of the competition that the best chefs are cooking on the best stoves”, said Peter Lee, the CEO of Fiji Gas. “We provide gas and equipment to the major resorts and also to families all over Fiji. Fiji Gas keeps Fiji Going by cooking the meals that feed us all, locals and tourists alike.”
Fiji Gas first began supplying gas to Fiji in 1956. It has grown into the largest LPG Company in the Pacific islands.