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Chefs from all over South Africa will be competing in three categories for thousands of rand in cash on 11 September.  They will all be flown to Durban to compete in an exciting mystery basket cook-off in their respective categories – Junior Chef of the Year, Team of Four, and the prestigious, Senior Chef of the Year.

R40 000 has already been given away in the By Invitation Category and was won by celebrity chef Jodi-Ann Pearton of The Food Design Agency. Which leaves R90 000 still up for grabs on 11 September!!

Each category of the competition takes the form of a mystery basket competition, in which the chefs are given a mystery basket of ingredients and have just half an hour to come up with their menu, and then three hours to prepare a starter, main course and dessert – utilising the ingredients that they were given just a few hours before.  This type of competition makes for very exciting filming, and the young contestants will be under great pressure to come up with the most innovative, creative and flavourful dishes possible.

In the Junior category, five of South Africa’s top up-and-coming young chefs – all with less than five years’ experience and aged under 30 – will be competing for the first prize of R10 000, second prize of R6 000 and third prize of R4 000, in South Africa’s most prestigious Junior Chef competition.

In the Senior category, five chefs with more than five years’ experience will compete for first prize of R15 000, second prize of R10 000 and third prize of R5 000 – and the prestigious title of Unilever Foodsolutions Chef of the Year.  The winner will also automatically qualify to compete in next year’s By Invitation Only category of the competition, in which Unilever invites six chefs to compete for the winner-takes-all prize of R40 000 in cash.

The Senior category will be one of the most exciting ever, with top executive chefs of five star hotels, such as Andrew Atkinson of the Michelangelo Hotel in Johannesburg, competing against far less experienced by highly creative and innovative trendsetters like Jodi-Ann Palmer of The Food Design Agency.

In the Team of Four category, six teams consisting of four members; ie a team manager (or executive chef), senior cook, junior cook and a waiter, will present a starter, main course and dessert for six people.  The winners in the Team of the Four category will win a cash prize of R20 000, second prize R12 000 and third prize R8 000.  The six teams are from The Park Hotel (Johannesburg), Compass Group (Johannesburg), Riverside Hotel (Durban), Heritage Theatre (Durban), Le Franschhoek Hotel (Cape Town) and Western Province Caterers (Cape Town).

The judges for the cook-off include some of South Africa’s top chefs.

The cook-off takes place on Friday 11 September in Durban.  All flight and accommodation arrangements for your crew will be made. 

I have attached a press release for further information and we will be able to provide provides on all the finalists early next week.

Should you require further information, please don’t hesitate to Jené Godfrey, Strategic Public Relations, 011 672 2037