International Chefs Day

International Chefs Day is a few short months away. With this in mind, please could you include this event as item on the agenda for your next committee meeting. We will be doing one national charity-related event in Jo’burg, which will be organised by the office, but this is essentially a regionally-driven day in which we will be relying on you and your committees to get as many chefs involved in both celebrating the day and giving something back to your communities as possible.

To give you a bit of background, International Chefs Day was started two years and is the brainchild of Bill Gallagher. It is now celebrated around the world by the majority of WACS member countries. Most countries use this day as an opportunity to get together and have some fun but, more importantly, to get involved in a social responsibility initiative in their communities. These are usually food-related charities and the day is used to highlight the plight of the hungry. It’s also a day in which we pay tribute to the families of chefs and to chefs themselves, who sacrifice so much to the profession.

International Chefs Day in the regions is not intended to be a revenue-generating exercise but you must cover your own costs. The activities on International Chefs Day should be:
1. Something charity-related.
2. Something fun for chefs and their families.
3. Something that will focus attention on the day, ie something that the media would pick up on and cover.
4. Something that will not incur expenses or, if it does, that can be self-liquidating.

So, it’s up to you to decide what you’re going to do, and let us know so that we can support you in making the members in your regions aware of what you’re doing, and to get them involved.

Attached is the International Chefs Day logo, which can be used on any material you print for the day. We will probably have some collateral, such as last year’s caps and posters, available for you to sell in your region, but will communicate with you beforehand to ascertain interest before we print anything.

We look forward to hearing from you – please could you include your ideas and thoughts about what your region will be doing in your next board report.

Bill Gallagher

*Taken from Dr Gallagher’s message to the South African Chefs’ Association 

Source: wacs2000.org