Young chef to compete at global challenge in UAE
NamChefs is proud to announce the participation of Elizabeth Isai in the semi-finals of the Hans Bueschkens Young Chef Challenge for the Africa & Middle East regions taking place in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, from 29 to 31 May 2023 as part of Expo Culinaire and Emirates Salon Culinaire.She will be cooking against young chefs from Egypt, SA, UAE and Qatar.
To qualify, Elizabeth – who won the NamChefs Junior Chef of the Year Competition in 2022 – has to be under 25 years old. She also represented Namibia at the WorldSkills competition in Switzerland last year and was part of the team that cooked in the African Culinary Cup in Abu Dhabi in May 2022.
Elizabeth has a passion for cooking and a high level of self-discipline to practise for a competition. She has already been preparing her competition menu daily for a month because practice makes perfect.
Elizabeth has to cook a starter, main and dessert for four people in three hours in a competition kitchen in Sharjah on 30 May. If she wins, she will be cooking against the rest of the world in Singapore in October 2024.
The road to Singapore
NamChefs is a member of WorldChefs. WorldChefs divides the world into seven regions, namely the Americas, Pacific Rim, Asia, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, South America and Africa & Middle East.
For the 2024 Global Chef Challenge Final, 40 teams compete in Singapore across four categories: The Global Chefs Challenge, the Global Pastry Chefs Challenge, Global Young Chefs Challenge and Global Chefs Vegan Challenge.
The host country for the WorldChefs Congress and Global Chefs Challenge Final always receives a “wild card” position for their team in each of the four categories, qualifying without having to necessarily place in any partner or semi-final competition.
The remaining teams to join the competition ranks must first advance through national qualifying rounds before moving on to regional semi-finals. These seven regional winners then advance to the world stage to compete for top honours alongside the prequalifying Culinary World Cup contenders at the Global Chef Challenge Finals.
NamChefs is sponsoring Elizabeth’s airline ticket. Should you wish to contribute to taking young participants to international competitions, please contact NamChefs at [email protected].