Francis Lo and Max Wang
WACS Young Chefs Ambassadors
A very warm and most heartfelt welcome to you all! We've been in contact with some of you, perhaps even met face to face. Others are new friends or soon to be, but no less welcome regardless.
We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Alan Orreal for putting together this blogspot, and for so much more. If the junior chefs of the world were a simmering pot of fine stock, Alan would be the fire beneath it, energizing it and helping it to develop its own character and identity.
Looking over some of the entries mentioned, I'm happy to note that there are a few countries out there whose junior clubs or teams I didn't even know of until now. When the Hong Kong Young Chefs Club was formed, we felt like we were treading water, not really making any progress. Then we sent someone to a WACS regional conference and discovered other clubs around who encountered the same challenges, the same sense of not moving forward. We realized that we were no longer an island, but part of a much larger community. In fact we never were alone, but because we didn't reach out, we didn't know what else or who else was out there.
Having returned to our respective homes from a fruitful WACS board meeting in Johannesburg, we began to send out emails to all the presidents of each WACS member nation, hoping to establish a dialogue between junior clubs around the world. It all sounds so grand, so larger-than-life. How do you even begin to cast a net wide enough to try and catch every junior chefs club in the world? We started by writing to all the presidents. Currently only a handful found time to reply but its only the beginning.
This blogspot is a great way for all the junior clubs to see what their brothers and sisters around the world are up to, and even to borrow a couple of ideas. After all, we're chefs. We "borrow" recipes and ideas all the time as part and parcel of our trade. Just last month, the Hong Kong Young Chefs hosted a competition in association with the Singapore Junior Chefs Club. Our respective finalists are meeting up in November in Singapore to duke it out. Should be fun!
If your country's junior chefs aren't being represented, speak out! Let us know! That's what we're here for. After looking at the WACS Junior Blogspot, now you'd know that there are junior clubs in Malaysia, Shanghai, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada. There are junior teams active in Germany, Sweden, Canada, Japan, Australia, the United States and twenty other countries. We know that there is bound to be many more but we just haven't heard from them yet.
Anyway, enjoy this blogspot, learn from it and spread the word! We want to hear from you!
Francis Lo & Max Wang
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