You Be the Judge

Gissur Guðmundsson, matreiðslumeistari

Gissur Guðmundsson matreiðslumeistari og eigandi veitingastaðarins Tveir Fiskar er um þessar mundir í Istanbul að dæma í matreiðslukeppni.

Hér að neðan er pistill frá Catherine Bergerion á engilsaxnesku sem segir frá för Gissurar í Istanbul:

You Be the Judge

The city itself is divided between Europe and Asia and it gathers influences from its proximity to Northern Africa and the Middle-East. A mosaic of history, cultures and mystery, Istanbul is a wonderful setting for an international competition. The judging of an international competition such as this can also seem quite mystical.

Twenty-five high-calibre international judges have been invited to the Istanbul Gastronomy Festival, taking them away from their already busy lives in work and family, and travelling, sometimes over twenty-four hours, to Istanbul for five intense and long days of non-stop competitions to judge. Most will never even see the wonderful citadel around them but will most likely get rather acquainted with the competition floor and the hotel staff.

So what brings them to a competition like this one then? The Istanbul Gastronomy Festival certainly does not have the glamour or recognition in the world like the Bocuse d’Or in Lyon or the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt. The competing chefs are unknown on the international scene and for most, it is their first competition. The judges task is not always an easy one either yet, you can see them pacing the floor calmly, elegantly but authoritatively, poker-faced, taking detailed notes, taking time to carefully evaluate each and every dish, tasting reflectively; they take things quite seriously and do a very professional job.

If you ask most judges why they do it, most will simply answer “To help them out”. They take part in these kinds of low profile competitions not only to help the competitors gain new knowledge and advance in their work but also to help the organizers of the competitions to understand international competition standards better in the hopes of achieving greater recognition in the future.

The need for good international judges in events such as the Istanbul Gastronomy Festival lies in the need for balance and advancement of cuisine. Having judges from different areas of the world assures a diversity in opinion and taste for the food itself but their experience and knowledge promise a sensitive judgement to quality, no matter the shape or taste.

There is room for improvement in any competition setting, and the Istanbul Gastronomy Festival is not excluded, but just as Istanbul was not built in a day, a high standard chef competition takes time to form. Just as the city that hosts it, what makes the Istanbul Gastronomy Festival a good one is not necessarily what it is now, but more what it thrives to become. That is why well known chefs from around the world come to support and help in this event, because, although there is no glory, fame or fortune for international judges, they share a faith in something more profound with the organizers and the competitors: a passion to make the culinary world evolve and a belief that passion makes everything possible.

Catherine Bergerion
For and on behalf of
Gissur Gudmundsson
President of the Nordic Chefs Association
WACS Continental Director of the Northern Europe

Fréttatilkynning
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