{"id":56133,"date":"2014-04-12T09:46:52","date_gmt":"2014-04-12T07:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=56133"},"modified":"2014-04-12T09:52:08","modified_gmt":"2014-04-12T07:52:08","slug":"global-pizza-challenge-2014-top-sa-passionate-pizza-makers-sought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/global-pizza-challenge-2014-top-sa-passionate-pizza-makers-sought\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Pizza Challenge 2014: top SA passionate pizza makers sought!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Burrata<\/a>On Thursday evening I attended the launch of the South African leg of the Global Pizza Challenge, a project which belongs to Chef Arnold Tanzer from Johannesburg and \u00a0Martin Kobald from Australia. \u00a0South African pizza makers have done well in the past seven years of the competition.<\/p>\n

I almost did not make the function, which was held at the offices of Dish Food & Social, \u00a0giving us a street address of 423 Main Road in Observatory. A building marked 423a on one side of a Shell garage was visible, but not the street number on Main Road that we were searching for in the near dark, which turned out to be on the other side of the petrol station. \u00a0 To complicate matters the entrance gate is in a side road off Main Road! \u00a0Having survived the panic of finding the venue, it was great to catch up with Chef Arnold, whom I had met last year on a Media Day for MasterChef SA Season 2 at Nederburg<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before we got into pizzas, we caught up about Season 3 of MasterChef SA, which is being filmed at the moment and will continue until June. The series will be broadcast from August onwards. \u00a0Chef Arnold did not answer all my questions, such as\"Global<\/a> if there would be two broadcasts per week again as in Season 2. \u00a0He would not discuss how strict new MasterChef SA judge Reuben Robertsons Riffel<\/strong><\/span><\/a> is with the contestants, given that he may not want to rock the boat! \u00a0We talked about the very honest and harsh review by Chef Arnold of Aarya<\/strong><\/span>,<\/a> the Montecasino restaurant, the use of which Deena Naidoo won for a two year period in winning MasterChef SA Season 1. \u00a0 \u00a0We chatted about how low key Season 2 winner Kamini Pather<\/strong><\/span><\/a> is, not being visible,and not (yet) having created her planned food communication channel, as she announced when she won. \u00a0 As before, there will be guest chefs.<\/p>\n

The Global Pizza Challenge is about promoting and encouraging culinary innovation, given that pizza-making is in a growth phase. \u00a0There is a ‘lot of bad pizza out there’,<\/em> Chef Arnold said to explain why they want to raise the standard of pizza making. \u00a0 Entrants from 16 countries are invited, including Australia, South Africa, Singapore, UAE, Thailand, Namibia, New Zealand, and China. \u00a0 The South African finals will be held at Hostex Cape Town this year, running from 21 – 23 May. \u00a0The location of the South African final is alternated between Cape Town and Johannesburg. \u00a0\u00a0Entries are now open for the favourite pizza recipes of pizza makers in restaurants, stand-alone pizzerias, takeaway outlets, and hotels. \u00a0A panel of South African Chefs Association (SACA) judges will evaluate the entries based on the recipes, 30 finalists will be announced, and thereafter the cook-out will take place at Hostex. \u00a0Hundreds of entries are received\u00a0\u00a0in one or more of five categories: poultry or meat, seafood, vegetarian, speciality or dessert, and Tabasco, featuring a sponsor brand and carries a prize package of R10000 cash specifically. \u00a0 Pizzas will be judged on their originality, balance, creativity, and \u00a0their \u00a0‘excitement factor’. \u00a0<\/em>The local \u00a0pizza winner will be flown to Melbourne to compete against 15 other regional winners in the international 2014 Global Pizza Challenge finals.<\/p>\n

\"Global<\/a>The Global Pizza Challenge is not only an opportunity for a pizza maker in a local pizzeria to make his\/her place of work famous, but to promote pizzas’ popularity. \u00a0Tammy Henton, a la carte chef at the Michelangelo Hotel at the time, won the South African leg last year, and came second in the international challenge, with her unusual sticky pork pizza. \u00a0Tammy attended the competition launch, and was the judge of the best pizzas made by those attending. \u00a0A collection of some known and some unusual savoury ingredients was available to put onto the pre-prepared pizza bases, including chicken, feta cheese, cheddar cheese, mushrooms, salmon, tomato, eggs, biltong, basil pesto, duck, peppadew, olives, mango, ricotta, and more. No pork was available. \u00a0Only one pizza maker chose to make a dessert pizza, utilising Nutella\"Global<\/a> to spread on her pizza base, then covered with chocolate chips, \u00a0pink and white marshmallows, and raspberries added after cooking the pizza. \u00a0Unfortunately the lighting in the vast room where the pizzas were evaluated and eaten was very poor, making photographs come out out yellow\/green. \u00a0We have therefore used a photograph of the pancetta, burrata, and fig pizza which I enjoyed at Burrata after the launch (main photograph).\u00a0 \u00a0Chef and MasterChef SA judge Pete Goffe-Wood as well as Bread & Wine’s Neil Jewell have been past entrants and South African representatives. \u00a0 Pizzas featured in MasterChef SA Season 2<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, an episode which was filmed at Maiden’s Cove in Camps Bay, and judged by food bloggers. \u00a0 Chef Arnold’s favourite pizza is Margherita with fior di latte.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kobald, who is also Honorary President of SACA, and UN World Food Program Ambassador \u2013 Africa, said that the South African culinary industry’s innovation and expertise comes out at the local Finals. \u00a0 Every year the pizza benchmark in the country is upped by the range of delicious pizzas entered in every category.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see what new pizza ideas will be presented at the Global Pizza Challenge South Africa cook-off next month.<\/p>\n

Global Pizza Challenge,<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Tel. 082 588 7112 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>www. globalpizzachallenge.com<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 No Social Media. \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The closing date for pizza recipe entries is 10 May.<\/span> \u00a0<\/strong>There is no entry fee.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: \u00a0 www.whalecottage.com<\/strong> <\/a>\u00a0Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday evening I attended the launch of the South African leg of the Global Pizza Challenge, a project which belongs to Chef Arnold Tanzer from Johannesburg and \u00a0Martin Kobald from Australia. \u00a0South African pizza makers have done well in the past seven years of the competition. I almost did not make the function, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[4795,15,3,1918,266,14539,20,528,21],"tags":[16445,8882,547,36,32370,32366,2152,32378,15190,17791,506,24679,24800,19367,2917,24799,32404,19282,4548,12340,3923,1346,546,3988,1458,3322,23738,32388,24801,23863,24802,16632,32373],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t