Electrolux Appetite for Excellence

Electrolux

Young Chef of the Year

Young Waiter of the Year

Young Restaurateur of the Year

All three category winners experience unique and career changing opportunities through overseas travel; inspirational work experiences; national publicity; and, mentoring.

Applications are now open for career focused young chefs, aged 30 and under, currently residing in Australia and working full-time in the restaurant industry.  Chefs are invited to submit a seasonal winter menu and recipes comprising of one canapé, entree, main, and dessert.  All entries are assess by a judging panes comprising of Australia’s leading chefs and restaurants.  Two finalists are chosen from each state and are flown to Sydney to participate in the state final cook-off.

For more information chick here

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Les Toques Blanches

  Les Toques Blanches Inc.

2009 Culinary Delights Exhibition
Cairns Central Shopping Centre – 19th 20th & 21st May 2009

The 2009 Annual Culinary Arts display  hosted by the Les Toques Blanches Inc,  at Cairns Central Shopping Centre is sure to be a crowd pleaser, showcasing the culinary skills of the chefs of the region.

The 3 day activities will be action packed with cooking competitions from our apprentice chefs and bakers, cooking demonstrations of pasta and sushi, seafood, meats and chocolates, a schools cooking competition for second year vocational education students and a live celebrity chef cook off where  four local celebrities will cook off against one another accompanied each with an apprentice/chef and provided with a mystery box of ingredients.

The event is to promote Chefing as an exciting career path and foster the art of culinary skills in the community at large.

For further information contact Sue-Ann Tillett, Secretariat of Les Toques Blanches on 07 4046 4000
or email sue-ann.tillett@skill360.com.au

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7 Ways to Increase Revenue & Reduce Costs

Waste Reduction Clinic

This will be a good workshop for current food manufacturers/processors

The Department of Employment, Economic Development & Innovation, Cairns and QMI Solutions invite you to a Waste Reduction Clinic to be held on Thursday 14 May 2009.

Every company is looking for ways to increase revenue and reduce costs.

It is now more important than ever for manufacturers to recognise lost time, effort, cash-flow and opportunity within the business in order to remain sustainable in the long-term. Our breakfast clinic will help you identify the most significant wastes in your business, and reduce or eliminate them altogether.

Time/Date:         7.00am - 9.30am Thursday 14th May 2009
Venue:                 Rydges Esplanade Resort Cnr Esplanade and Kerwin St, CAIRNS
Cost:                     $25.00 (inc GST) (Breakfast provided)

Please see attached flyer for more information and registration details.

• Seven ways to increase revenue and reduce costs

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Chefs New Products

Frozen Pineapple and Mango

Ivycore Pty Ltd is a local fruit processing company on the Tablelands west of Mareeba.  They have a range of products available for chefs

500gms of frozen mango and sweet pineapple are ideal for catering purposes at a reasonable price

To check out the product look for the Ivycore stand at the Farmgate Markets every Saturday at The Pier 7:30am - 2:00pm

For further information contact

Jose Moreno
Manager
Ivycove Pty Ltd
Box 847 Mareeba 4880
Ph 07 40 932 121
Mob 0417 794 786

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2009 Worlds Best Restaurants Announced

The S.Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants.
20th April 2009

Restaurant Magazine announces the list of The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2009.

Ferran Adrià holds on to number one spot whilst witnessing a host of young talent racing up the list
For the fourth year in a row Ferran Adrià has topped a worldwide poll of 806 chefs, critics and other industry experts, whilst Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck retains second place. Below these perennial favourites however it’s all change in the eighth annual listing of The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Australia’s Tetsuya  although slipped 8 places remains high on the list at 17 and also won the Best Restaurant in Australasia.  2009 sees more new talent making its mark on the list than in previous years. Such rising stars and new entries include Quay in Australia at 46th position.

Compassionate food lovers across the globe can secure a reservation at many of the restaurants on the list by bidding on e-Bay for a meal, with all proceeds going to humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger, official charity partner of the 2009 awards. Bidding begins 21st April. go to ebay

A restaurant’s ranking on the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list is decided purely on the votes of a large panel of well respected international judges collectively called the Nespresso World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy. The Academy comprises of 806 chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and restaurant critics, a third of whom did not vote in the previous year.

The Top 20 of the list

 For the full story and list go to The Worlds 50 Best

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Farmgate Markets

The new Farmgate Markets opened at The Pier on Saturday 18th April with great success.  These markets are unique as all produce has been grown or produced within a 200 kilometre radius of Cairns.

A great range of fresh and packaged products were available for the first market and will change with the seasons. 

Fruits included  bananas, bamboo, breadfruit, coconuts, custard apples, guanabana, jackfruit, lemons, limes, longons, rollinias, papaya, passionfruit, persimmons, pineapples, pitaya, red & yellow rambutans,

Vegetables included avocado, lettuces of all descriptions, pumpkins, ginger, orka, fresh herbs.

Gourmet foods include organic, gluten free, biodynamic,  eggs, seafood,  meat and dairy produce, cheese,  wine, coffee, tea, chocolates, cakes, health bars, breads, pizza bases, pasta, jams, chutneys, sauces, dried herbs, dukkah, honey, nuts,  herb plants and flowers.

Farmgate Markets are open 7:30am - 2:00pm every Saturday

For more information, contact Imeea Svanosio on 07 4055 2195 or 0423 277 212 or email market@nsda.org.au

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Regional Food Producers Innovation and Productivity Program

Expressions of interest are invited for Round 2 of the Regional Food Producers Innovation and Productivity Program (RFPIPP).

Under the program, competitive, matched-funding grants – generally between $50 000 and $2 million are available to food and seafood businesses to undertake projects that will help boost the productivity, profitability and competitiveness of Australia’s regional food producing industry.

Please note that the application documentation has changed since Round 1.

To submit an expression of interest, you must first register your details and proposed project. After an initial eligibility check, we will forward an expression of interest form for you to complete.

Registrations for Round 2 of RFPIPP close at 5.00pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) Monday 22 June 2009.

Expressions of interest close at 5.00pm (AEST) Monday 6 July 2009.

Program guidelines, registration forms and frequently asked questions (FAQs) can be viewed at: www.daff.gov.au/foodinnovation.

If you submitted an expression of interest in Round 1 and our assessment suggested re-submitting in Round 2, we will email you the Round 2 form in the coming days.

For more details, phone: 1800 631 715 or email: foodinnovation@daff.gov.au

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Food Tourism Development Program

Eight years ago Australian Tropical Foods initiated food tourism in this region with the Taste of the Tropics Food Trails. Participants have grown from 41 in 2001 to an outstanding 93 in 2009.  Now when times are tough, it’s time to re-evaluate every aspect of our business to meet the needs of the demanding tourists.  Most importantly a collaborative effort is required to develop the market further.

The ongoing work with farm and food tourism we hoped to achieve previously has fortunately now being picked up by the Southern Cross University and after attending the meetings on the Tablelands, this is just what the industry needs to move forward.  If you are an existing agri-tourism operator or just starting out, it is worthwhile for yourself and the region to find out more about the Agri-food Tourism Workshops.

For latest update click here

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Farmgate Markets to open at The Pier

Cairns’ new local food market, Farmgate, got off to a great start last Saturday April 18 at The Pier with a sellout by 12 noon. operate weekly from 7:30am to 2:00pm.

The market proving very popular will operate from 7:30am to 2:00pm every Saturday and focus on locally produced and manufactured food and agricultural value added products within the radius not more than 200 kilometers of Cairns. 

With around 30 stallholders you will find fruits, vegetables, breads, dairy, cheese, meat, seafood and an array of processed foods.

Presentation is a major factor of these markets and all foods display the grower/producer, the area and how many food kilometres it has travelled to market.

This all weather venue has easy parking, air conditioned, and plenty of cafes, restaurants and shops.

More information: Imeea Svanosio +61 423 277 212 market@nsda.org.au website: www.nsda.org.au

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Food Inc.

…the movie you have to see.

“Food, Inc.” is a civilized horror movie for the socially conscious, the nutritionally curious and the hungry. Yes, it has a deceptively cheery palette, but Robert Kenner’s documentary film which does for the supermarket what “Jaws” did for the beach — marches straight into the dark side of cutthroat agri-business, corporatized meat and the greedy manipulation of both genetics and the law.

http://robertkennerfilms.com/films/files/detail_current.php 

There is no release date yet for this movie  to be screened in Australia – keep a watch out.

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