Egypt wins the African Championship for Young Chefs under the age of 25

Cairo 05 June 2022: In conjunction with its celebration of the silver jubilee and the 25th anniversary of its founding, the Egyptian Chefs Association (ECA) - a non-profit organization - announced that as a representative from the Arab Republic of Egypt won first place and the African Youth Chef Under-25 Championship Cup, which was recently organized by the World Association of Chefs' Societies (WACS) in Abu Dhabi, with the participation of 6 countries; Ghana, Namibia, South Africa, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt.

 

This is the second time that Egypt won the African Youth Under-25 Championship after it won the first round of the tournament in South Africa. Six tournaments were held, Namibia won two, and the United Arab Emirates won two. The tournament was held every two years, and the last round was organized in 2019. The tournament was supposed to be held last year in 2021but was postponed this year due to the coronavirus pandemic conditions. It was held this year on the occasion of the Congress meeting of the World Chevatt Organization in 120 countries, which is held every four years, and was recently held in Abu Dhabi.

 

For his part, Mr. Ashraf Gamal, Executive Director of the Egyptian Chefs Association, expressed his great pleasure with this victory, which is a result of the efforts made by the association aimed at developing the level of Egyptian chefs and helping them compete globally. He pointed out that the winning team consists of three chefs (two in the hot section and one in the dessert section) in addition to the captain of the team, as this team was chosen from among the young chefs who won positions in the Egyptian National Chef's Salon competition held in August 2021, and the live cooking competitions held every year on the sidelines of the HACE Exhibition in November, after which several workshops were organized for the winning youth chefs and the teams that will participate in the WACS International Competition "African Championship for Young Chefs" were selected.

 

In addition, Chef Hussam Suleiman, the chairman of the Egyptian Chefs Association, was chosen and honored by the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) as one of the best chefs association leaders in the world for his efforts in training and developing the association members to prepare a new generation of chefs that are qualified with and that meet the international standards.

 

Jamal said, "We are working in the Egyptian Chefs Association on developing the educational part, and we started to organize many training courses online during the coronavirus pandemic, which addressed more than 40 training topics through the Association's platform, benefiting free-of-charge member chefs and non-members of the Association at a nominal cost. At each of the six training stages, they will be given an accredited certificate by the Egyptian Chefs Association by completing each of the 6 phases and also a combined certificate at the end of the course by passing all the 6 phases. In addition to the development of long educational and training programs, whether teaching the basics of the hot kitchen, in addition to the basics of cooking for the pastry department, which is presented for the first time in Egypt, as well as other training courses and workshops that are held for one day, and holding periodic meetings with a group of general chefs from five-star hotels in Cairo to discuss the challenges and problems facing the sector, especially concerning the challenge of lack of trained workers and the problem of shortage of raw materials that exist globally.”

 

Ali confirmed that the association is currently preparing to participate in the National Cooking Salon Competition, as well as the grand competition that will be held on the sidelines of the HACE Exhibition. This year, there will be nine hot kitchen competitions, and also the bakery and dessert departments will have competitions. He pointed out that the association's strategy during this period is to have a new generation of Egyptian chefs prepared in an advanced way so that by 2024 they will be ready to participate in the Olympics, which is held every four years, and have more than 80 countries participating, in addition to finding different solutions to meet the challenges facing this industry.

 

It is worth mentioning that the Egyptian Chefs Association (ECA) was established in 1997, and is an active member of the parent international organization, the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS), and operates under its umbrella, as it is the organization's representative body in Egypt. The association accumulated its current status as a well-established and recognized non-governmental organization, providing a wide range of services to its members and society in general. The association serves its members as chefs and also serves society as a whole by teaching the arts of cooking, helping chefs in their careers to training new chefs, and helping food manufacturers by providing them with the necessary guidance. The association is an indispensable partner that works hard for the interests and prosperity of Egyptian society.