Welcome to the new website for the World Association of Chefs Societies. WACS is an amazing network of chefs from around the world and I believe this new website will help us both reach out to more chefs and also keep our members better informed with what is going on in WACS! It has been a big challenge for everyone to help translating and to get the right configuration for this website. We have sought advice from all over the world from all levels of WACS to reflect what our members want and need. Now you will have the website available in four languages: Spanish, French,German and English. The responsibility lies with each and every member to ensure that each part is active.
Everyone will have the possibility to send in news in either one of these four languages and we will publish it in the language sent. I would like to invite you to please be active in sharing your visions and news from your part of the world with us.
With this great network we, as the chefs of the world, have the opportunity to speak on behalf of chefs. But to do so, we need you to take part in the discussion; be active and share with us your thoughts. The greatest opportunity to do so is through participating in our congress which will be held next year in Santiago, Chile from the 24th to the 29th January 2010. Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of something big.
I would like to thank the website team in Singapore, the Marketing and Communications Committee for all the time they have put into this website, for the outstanding work in getting this website up and running, and also for getting all the necessary documents translated. This work is not completely done but the structure has been set and hopefully all documents will be translated in the next few months. It has been a challenge to fulfil the wishes of chefs from all over the world, but we have come as close as we can to accomplishing this.
The website will constantly be changing and improving in the future. Please don’t get discouraged if you don’t find what you are looking for, it may still be in translation. At the moment, all the necessary WACS documents are in English but in time to come, they will be available in all four languages. You can also contact us if you have any problems or concerns with the new website.
Please use this wonderful tool and share it with everyone.
This month has been an active month for WACS starting with a great board meeting in Bangkok where our friends hosted us brilliantly. Our thanks to the Thai Chefs for their outstanding work and also congratulations with the first ASIA Cup that was held the same week. The following week I went over to Sydney where I got the opportunity to attend the Global Chefs Challenge Semi-final for the Pacific Region and I can say it was truly a close call. Australia just made it with a point difference with New Zealand. Both great candidates. Also I had the opportunity to take part in the new concept our sponsor Fonterra is starting to promote for the young chefs, “Great to be Chef”. In the same week I also had a meeting with Tim Kelf at the Meat and Liverstock of Australia office. As many of you know, MLA has been a good supporter of the industry through the years and we hope we will work closely together in the future.
From Australia, I went straight to Innsbruck, Austria, where the Big Cooking competition was held and, as I have said before, it must be one of the toughest competitions in the world for young chefs. I hope many of you will have the opportunity to see this competition next year during the European meeting which will be held there.
As I write this, I am getting ready to go to Cuba to take part in a festival in Santiago de Cuba, and then to Brazil to see the Global Chefs Challenge Semi-final for the Americas. The upcoming months will be busy but fruitful for our association, I promise you.
I hope you all are getting excited for the congress, many exciting things will happen and don’t forget the necessary friendships and network which will be available for you!
With culinary friendship,
Gissur Gudmundsson President’s Message
WACS President
http://www.wacs2000.org
