JEDDAH, 16 May 2004 — German chef Moritz Schubert won the Supreme Top Chef 2004 award at a cooking contest held as part of the Food, Hotel and Propac Arabia show, which ended here over the weekend.
Schubert, 26, of Madinat Jumeirah Resort-Al-Qasr, Dubai, also won the best main course award.
The other winners were Turkish chef Athem Aydemir of Jeddah’s Crowne Plaza for best starter, and New Zealander Clinton Cooper of Riyadh’s Al-Khuzama Hotel for best dessert.
For more than six weeks, chefs had competed in cookouts in four countries for the chance of a place in the final. Six chefs flew in for the grand finale, where they were joined by two winners from the first contest two years ago.
Thomas Harker, winner of the Bahrain contest and one of the beaten finalists, said he enjoyed his first visit to the Kingdom. “I’ve learned so much from this experience. Unfortunately, I had a bad day but will be back to try again,” he said.
The contest was judged by a panel of four judges chaired by TV celebrity Chef Osama.
The event has inspired local chefs to form the Kingdom’s first professional chefs’ organization.
Most of 400 exhibitors from 25 countries, who took part in the 9th Food, Hotel and Propac Arabia show, said they had a “rewarding” experience.
“Some of us have been able to locate new agents or distributors and others have succeeded in expanding their exports to this part of the world,” one of them said.
Some 11,500 agents, distributors, industrialists, vendors, producers, importers, exporters, chefs and executives from hotels, hospitals and educational institutions attended the five-day show, which was inaugurated by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Abdullah Al-Obaid.
