Taste the Fun – First week – 2010 San Diego County Fair

Well we survived the first week of the 2010 San Diego County Fair. We had a lot of fun putting on competitions and cooking demonstrations.
Chefs de Cuisine Association serves up fun at The Fair’s “Tour of Tastes” Exhibit

(SAN DIEGO June 18) – The Chefs de Cuisine Association of San Diego has partnered with the San Diego County Fair to let the public “Taste the Fun” from June 11th through July 5th at the Fair’s “Tour of Tastes” Exhibit, expected to attract more than 700,000 people. Coming this weekend, a public competition between professional chefs to establish “The Best Damn Chef in San Diego.” Competitions are at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 18-19-20.

“We are offering the public an inside look at the art and science of professional food preparation,” says Chefs de Cuisine president Michael Ames.

June 25-27, the Chefs’ “Taste de Cuisine” competition offer pairings of beer and food. Promoting San Diego as one of the country’s top locations for micro-breweries, the Chefs de Cuisine has taken the lead in pairing beer with cuisine.

On July 1, the “Battle of the Californias” sets Baja California chefs versus California chefs in a battle for bragging rights.

On July 2 and 3, the Tour of Tastes will be the public setting for pro chefs competitions held by the American Culinary Federation.

On July 4, chefs from the Navy will cook with Spam in star-spangled competition with VIP judges.

Among the Chefs’ outstanding educational activities in recent years is the Iron Apprentice Culinary Competition, now in its eighth year, open to students at all types of schools and awarding coveted jackets to each competitor.

Winners of the Iron Apprentice competitions at the Fair: on June 12, Wills Brian of the Art Institute of California won the Knife Skills competition and the team of Jesse Zapata and Aaron Terry won the Mystery Basket competition. On June 13, the Iron Apprentice Centerpiece contest was won by Denise Roudeau-Brunson; while both the Wedding Cake and Birthday Cake Iron Apprentice blue ribbon went to Duyen Le of National Culinary School in San Diego.

The Bartender contest was won June 11 by Mike Yen from Avenue 5 Restaurant in Banker’s Hill, with second place taken by Nathan Harrington from The Grove Restaurant at Viejas Casino.

As a service to all who live in Southern California, the Chefs de Cuisine offer a $45 list of foods to fill a disaster-recovery box that can feed a family of four over a four-day span. “This box of simple basic foods that can be prepared on a backyard grill is an idea that we hope will save lives after a disaster strikes,” said Chef Ames.

This professional fraternity of expert chefs has a half-century history of serving and giving cuisine to all kinds of community groups and charities. As a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization, the Chefs de Cuisine Association of San Diego is able to combine the creative giving talents of dozens of San Diego chefs and purveyors.

With a mission to promote cuisine and offer professional educational opportunities for its member chefs, the Chefs de Cuisine Association of San Diego was founded in 1961, making it the oldest affiliate of the American Culinary Federation (ACF) in the San Diego region. The Chefs de Cuisine Association offers educational programs, competitions, and events for professional chefs and culinary students, and works with the national ACF to offer professional certification exams.

The Chefs de Cuisine also supports an Explorer Post for youth aged 14-20 to explore culinary careers, the first such in the nation.

Click on the link below to see the photos of the fun.

More information at http://www.sdchefsdecuisine.com/the-chefs-at-the-fair-photos/

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