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The 2010 Sunday Times Food Awards in association with Foodcorp winners were announced on Wednesday, October 6, following a thrilling two-day cook off at the South African Chefs Association’s Southern Sun Centre for Culinary Excellence, in Auckland Park Johannesburg.

Jodi-Ann Pearton of the Food Design Agency now holds the coveted title of 2010 Sunday Times Chef of the Year, Julia Hattingh from The Restaurant at The Waterkloof triumphed as the Young Chef of the Year, Silwood School of Cookery won the Chef School Challenge and Lucas Ntsele from the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton was honoured to be the first recipient of the Sunday Times Stalwart of the Kitchen Award.

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Sunday Times Food Awards Gallery

Sunday Times Food Awards in Association with Foodcorp 2009

The 2009 Sunday Times Food Awards winners were announced on Thursday, September 3, following a thrilling two-day cook off at the exquisite state-of-the art food emporium, the 7th Floor in Observatory, Cape Town. The Food Awards, in association with Foodcorp, is made up of three competitions, with all three winners hailing from Cape Town. Henrico Grobbelaar of Lady Phillips restaurant now holds the title of 2009 Sunday Times Chef of the Year, Leon Jones of the Table Bay Hotel prevailed as the Young Chef of the Year and Nerita Bharuth and James Gaag of Silwood School of Cookery won the Chef School Challenge.

“Originally conceived as an adjunct to the Sunday Times Food Show, the Food Awards competition now stands firmly on its own two feet. Sunday Times is proud that in three years the competition has grown a life of its own, establishing itself as a highlight on the culinary calendar;” says Avusa’s project manager for the awards, Jacqui Gunn.

“The awards were designed to give something back to the South African culinary community, to recognise and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit and innovation of South Africa’s top chefs, and the aspiring culinary stars of tomorrow.”

The finalists who competed for Chef of the Year were, Henrico Grobbelaar, executive chef at the Lady Philips Restaurant in Cape Town, Joseph Govender, sous chef at the Cape’s Table Bay Hotel, Jodi-Anne Pearton, owner of The Food Design Agency in Johannesburg and Tammy Henton, head chef at Arnold Tanzer’s Food on the Move, also based in Johannesburg. After four hours of cooking a masterpiece menu for the judges, international award-winning Henrico Grobbelaar was a clear winner and crowned 2009 Sunday Times Chef of the Year.

All finalists that were shortlisted were chosen to compete due to their impeccably presented menus and unique reflections of the African theme in each of their recipes. These first-class menus then had to be brought to life on the day. Each dish tantalised the judges’ taste buds leaving them with a somewhat arduous task of deciding on the winners. 

On Wednesday, September 2, the Chef School Challenge took place between the two finalist schools, Cape Town’s Silwood School of Cookery and 1000 Hills Chef School, based 40km outside of Durban. Last year’s champions of the Chef School Challenge, Silwood School of Cookery in Cape Town, continued their winning streak by taking the coveted title once again.

Subsequently, the Young Chef of the Year cook-off went underway between its four finalists. They were Leon Jones, a commis (entry level) chef at the Table Bay Hotel, Gina Rebok, a commis chef at the Cape Grace Hotel in Cape Town, Ryan Howie, another commis chef from the Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg and Reiner May, a Chef de Partie from Cape Town.

“Creation of new talent is critical for the sustainability of the culinary industry in South Africa. These awards serve as a platform that creates excitement, encouraging young talent to participate in the industry. In addition, the junior chef and schools challenge provides a great platform for young culinary creatives to showcase their unique capabilities and ideas,” adds Media Marketing GM, Susan Russell.

The following day, the Chef of the Year cook-offs culminated at a cocktail party awards ceremony held on Thursday evening.

This year’s Chef of the Year received R50 000 plus a WEBER Q300 valued at R5 999, the Young Chef of the Year, R20 000 plus a Weber Q300 valued at R4 999 and winners of the Chef School Challenge took home R5 000 and a Weber Smokey Joe valued at R749 per team member and R5 000 was awarded to the winning school.

“We are fully aware of the amount of stress and pressure all chefs are under on a daily basis, therefore clearly justifying our decision to the increase the prize money for this year’s competition.  Without them, there is no competition,” concludes Gunn.

Sunday Times Food Awards 2008

Last night (Saturday 5th July) at a glittering cocktail party at the Sandton Convention Centre, Arnold Tanzer was declared winner of the coveted Sunday Times Chef of the Year award taking home a tasty R 30 000 prize and a top of the range Elba stove. This award crowns a long list of achievements that includes cooking on the high seas, overseeing the gastronomic pleasures of private game reserves across Africa, managing Food on the Move, his food and event company and ‘The Delicatessen’, his very upmarket food store and restaurant.

A calm and unflappable Tanzer went head to head yesterday morning in a cook off with fellow maestros Carl Tichart, Chantel Dartnell, Andrew Atkinson and Vanie Padayachee in front of a packed food auditorium to decide who would be the Sunday Times Chef of the Year. The top five prepared a six-course degustation menu for six people, including paired wines and non-alcoholic beverages to complement their creations. If that was not difficult enough, they had to do so in front of both judges and an admiring audience. None disappointed, whipping up exotic and fanciful creations to wow the crowds and judges alike.

After much deliberation and earnest tasting by the judges, the award of Sunday Times Chef of the Year went to a beaming Tanzer whose culinary creativity is inspired by conjuring up menus that eloquently demonstrate his innate feel for food earning himself the title of Chef of the Year.

When asked about his win, Arnold said ““ I am absolutely chuffed! A big thank you must go to my wife, my fantastic partner Rudi, my chefs Tammy, Freddie, Salmon. Without them, I am no chef. To my competitors, I would like to say thanks for giving me a sleepless night last night - well done to you all. ”

Marlise van Lingen won the prestigious Sunday Times Young Chef of the Year Award. Five young chefs competed in this category on Friday where their culinary skills, creativity and innovation were tested before a panel of discerning judges.  Her youthful culinary prowess won her the R 15000 prize and more excitingly a bursary from the prestigious Prue Leith Chef’s Academy worth R 110 000.

A new addition to Sunday Times Food Awards was the Chef School Challenge. Teams of two from five chef schools pitted their skills against each other in a tense competition that saw Silwood School of Cookery in Rondebosch emerge as the top chef school. Student trainees, Ian van der Walt and Simphiwe Siyata, represented Silwood.

It’s my Business, the popular Sunday Times Supplement aimed at promoting small businesses also honoured the Food Entrepreneurs Award winners designed to recognise the crème de la crème of South Africa’s burgeoning food industry. The Awards went to Oaklands Fruit Juices, Yuppie Chef, Fresh Ideas and Aphrodisiac Shack, four businesses that won exhibition stands at this year’s Food Show after submitting entries that demonstrated the quality of their products, services and a passion to make their small businesses big successes.

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