30 October 2018

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG CHEFS COMMITTEE ALAN ORREAL-LIANG

ALAN ORREAL-LIANG
Vice Chairman — Australia

 

WHAT IS THE MISSION OF THE GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG CHEFS COMMITTEE?

Our Mission is. To drive and encourage the development of Young Chefs Clubs to our members around the world while mentoring and leading our Global Young Chef Ambassadors to develop and deliver initiatives such as the Young Chef Culinary Culture Exchange program and the Billy Gallagher Young Chefs Forum. Through our four pillars of Friendship, Education, Cuisine and Culture we provide mentoring support to our global network of Young Chefs Clubs and deliver a world class educational mentoring forum. To engage and promote friendship among the Young Chefs Clubs, we empower culinary excellence by fostering a culture of lifelong learning and leadership while underscoring the importance of cultural understanding and humanitarianism.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN THIS COMMITTEE?

I have had the great fortune to be directly involved long before our committee was formed. It was one of the greatest privileges of my life to have met Dr Billy Gallagher at the Kyoto World Congress in 2002 where the very first Billy Gallagher Young Chefs Forum was held and where after Billy continued to mentor me. We worked together to continue to build the Billy Gallagher Young Chef Forum. It was 2008 that the Committee took on a formal structure where I have since had the honor of working with Andy Cuthbert, our amazing committee members and Ambassadors.

HOW IS THE GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG CHEFS COMMITTEE STRUCTURED?

Our Committee is structured very flat and equally yet unique. We have the Chairman and Vice Chair and beside us we have the Committee that is formed from a global prospective ensuring that we have representation from all continents with two Mentors that are usually Continental Directors or Country Presidents. Next, we have a growing working group of Ambassador Mentors and the Ambassadors themselves. Ambassador Mentors are usually past Ambassadors and as the name suggests they guide and Mentor the Ambassadors.


WHAT TYPES OF PROJECTS OR INITIATIVES CAN WORLDCHEFS MEMBERS EXPECT FROM YOUR COMMITTEE?

Part of our main mission is to drive and encourage the development of Young Chefs Clubs to our members around the world, this we do by direct engagement with member countries. We can provide support and direction suggestions on a club formation and structure and give many examples of activities that Young Chefs can do to make their club a place that other likeminded Young Chefs would want to join. Our Ambassadors assist, drive local initiatives and give support to the YCCs in their regions. We are responsible to continue the legacy of Dr. Billy Gallagher and the Forum for Young Chefs held at each and every congress.


WHAT CAN MEMBERS LOOK FORWARD TO FROM YOUR COMMITTEE IN 2018 AND 2019?
Currently we are building a Young Chef Culinary Culture Exchange programme, an extension of the Billy Gallagher Young Chefs Tour. This is an exciting time for Young Chefs and opportunities abound, we will seek out and engage with the Young Chefs Clubs to collaborate together further and have combined events.


WHAT IS THE KIND OF WORK THAT GOES BEHIND THE PLANNING OF YOUR PROJECTS OR INITIATIVES?

We have a group monthly Skype conference call to the global team and then many smaller calls and messages to individual Ambassadors and YCCs to help support their ideas. The Billy Gallagher Young Chefs Forum is many hundreds of hours of planning and coordination planed over 18 months. This year we have 250 Young Chefs from all over the world coming together to enjoy the forum to network and learn together.

 
HOW CAN WORLDCHEFS MEMBERS PLAY A PART TO HELP YOUR COMMITTEE?

The best way to help us would be to support your local YCC to get started or to help them grow with your National body. This is a grassroots organization and we will always need people on the ground being effective at home helping Young Chefs in your association.


HOW DO YOU GET YOUNG CHEFS INVOLVED ON THE GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG CHEFS COMMITTEE?

We are constantly on the look out to develop young talent and to have them join us on our committee, particularly at the congress. It's the perfect time to assess leadership qualities and to find our next set of Ambassadors to become future leaders. Mostly we encourage the Young Chefs to focus on their Young Chefs Club to help it to grow and support the Young Chefs in their area.


HOW CAN YOUNG CHEFS GET INVOLVED WITH THEIR OWN WORLDCHEFS NATIONAL MEMBER SOCIETY?

Become a member and get involved, ask your National Society if they have a YCC and how can you help to make it better. I encourage anyone to log onto the Worldchefs web pages www.worldchefs.org and read about Young Chefs and our committee contacts are all there.


WHO SHOULD YOUNG CHEFS CONTACT IF THEY WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION ON WORLDCHEFS?

Our facebook page WorldChefsYoung Chefs Club www.facebook.com/ wacsyoungchefs/ and Blog www.wacsyoungchefs.blogspot.com. There you can find many resources and our contact information of the committee and Ambassadors for your region and links to all the Young Chefs Clubs.


OVER THE NEXT 2 YEARS, WHAT IS THE OVERALL IMPACT THE GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG CHEFS COMMITTEE HOPES TO MAKE?

We hope to continue to build our network of Young Chefs Clubs worldwide and build our communication, engagement and relevance within our Society of WorldChefs. Our long term goals include creating a network of support through which we can help to educate and promote culinary brotherhood and friendship, helping member countries to create a safe, inviting environment for Young Chefs to meet, learn and share together and to foster engagement with the National Associations, and growing the future leaders of tomorrow.

 
WHERE DO YOU HOPE TO SEE WORLDCHEFS IN 5 YEARS?

I think Worldchefs is on the right track, so over the next five years I would like to see our society have an even larger influence on the global food industry. Perhaps with greater engagement and a working relationship with relevant universities and research institutes for the study of future food production and education, governments for policy inclusion, NGOs for the delivery of initiatives and other industry leaders for the betterment of the industry as a whole. Chefs are decision makers and have the ability to influence trends and shift markets. More importantly, we have a primary responsibility to pass on our skills through education and training. Furthermore, we work hard to protect our planet and its limited resources for future generations.


COMPLETE THE SENTENCE -WORLDCHEFS IS ...

WORLDCHEFS is a global leader in Culinary Arts and an influencer of food trends, a leader in Culinary Certification and a home for Chefs all over the world to network learn and share best practices while fostering the growth of leadership for the betterment of our associations and industry as a whole.

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