Culinary Team Manitoba competed in the 23rd World Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany this past fall. They went, they saw and they conquered. They did Manitoba proud and brought home a silver medal.
As an Olympiad event, the World Culinary Olympics are held every four years. Chefs from 54 countries (including regional teams like Team Manitoba) gathered in the German town of Erfurt —known for being the main city closest to the geographical centre of Germany- to showcase their skills and their home country’s cuisine in the finest chef competition in the world.
Photos Courtesy of 100 Acre Woods Photography – shared with permission
Three fabulous chefs from the team shared some thoughts on the experience with us. MJ Feeke, Jeremy Bender, and Brent Prockert each have unique culinary qualities that are an asset to the team; none of them are strangers to success in their own culinary careers.
The three chefs were each invited to be on the team by the team manager, Cameron Huley, about three years ago. That may sound like a lot of time to prepare and practice, but with their busy schedules -they are chefs after all- the years went by quickly.
Over three years to prepare
Just how much time went into preparing for the completion? “Three and a half years” said Chef Brent. “We had numerous fundraising events, we communicated with each other and planned everything throughout that time” he explains.
Chef MJ and Chef Jeremy had competed in the world competition before. MJ competed as a support member for Team Canada in 2008; and while he was working at the Ritz Carlton St.Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, Jeremy competed in the Culinary Caribbean Olympics held in Jamaica in 2003.
A team’s strength
When asked what their team’s strength was, all chefs agreed their team dynamic was their greatest force. Besides the professionalism demonstrated by all members of the team, as Jeremy asserts “they all have strong points to contribute.” The commitment that went into it was impressive Brent adds- “everyone worked very hard and practiced extensively, both as a team and also on their own.” MJ recognizes another advantage they had: support from our community. This support was evident when they held their fundraising events.
“We had good funding. We had an opportunity to go to the competition and we did well —the best team Manitoba has ever done. It’s all due to the support from business owners, our industry, our clientele. We owe a big thank you to all of them” says MJ proudly.
With the scope of the competition, and the serious commitment and time it required, the silver medal didn’t come without a few challenges. For Jeremy, who is a culinary instructor at the Louis Riel Arts and Technology Centre, it was an individual struggle of balancing being on the team, teaching full time, going to university and taking care of his young family. As a pastry chef, for MJ her challenge was more in the mentorship aspect. Manitoba is home to lots of talented chefs who act as mentors, but according to MJ “we don’t necessarily have the high profile mentors other provinces do for pastry.”
An emotional ride
The experience was exactly what they anticipated and more. What came as a surprise was the sentiment that hit them at the opening ceremonies. Both MJ and Brent admit to being overcome with emotion and pride. MJ describes it in one word: surreal. She even got a little star struck.. She met one of the judges who was also the author of an article she’d been reading in a magazine just the week before, and there was she at the opening ceremonies speaking to him in person. Brent remembers getting emotional when he saw all the teams and their flags at the ceremony; “I was much more emotional that I had anticipated” he laughs.
From September and on, they worked a minimum of 20-hour days, and in the last few days before flying to Germany at the beginning of October, the days all blurred into one. When they arrived in Germany, they didn’t sleep for the first 36 hours recalls Brent. Would he do it again? “ I would certainly be involved again if asked” he replies.
So what’s next for Team Manitoba?
The team usually takes six months off after a competition before they start talking about the next one. For now the chefs are thrilled to have excelled in the competition and are preoccupied thinking about how busy they will be in that time frame with all the events, dinners, and winter galas that stretch long after the holiday season.
Be Well…Wendy Elias-Lopez
