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Canadians take top prizes at World Food Championships
Edmonton, AB—Canadians were well represented at the World Food Championships (WFC) earlier in November, with Canadian teams taking home 1st place in two of nine cooking categories. Ten of the 19 Canadian teams at WFC (including local chefs Doreen Prei, Lindsay Porter of El Cortez, and Sandeep Brar of Zinc, among others) made it into top-ten rounds in their respective categories, creating quite the buzz around the culinary talent in Canada.
For its inaugural year, the Canadian Food Championships (CFC) sent 17 qualifying teams to Kissimmee, Florida, to compete in the World Food Championships November 3-10, 2015. CFC’s teams met up with two independent teams to represent Canada at WFC, a cooking competition that sees hundreds of teams from across the world compete for a grand prize of $100, 000.
“We’re so proud of how the Canadians did at WFC. To make it to this level is a huge accomplishment, ” Paul Lucas, the general manager for the Canadian Food Championships said. “We were so happy to be able to provide this opportunity for Canadians to qualify for WFC through the Canadian Food Championships this year. We always knew Canada had great culinary talent, and now they’ve shown the world.”
At WFC, teams competed in a preliminary round for their category (Bacon, BBQ, Burger, Chili, Dessert, Pasta, Recipe, Sandwich, or Seafood), with the top 10 in each moving on to a final category round. First place winners in each category win $10, 000 and move on to compete at the Final Table, where the $100, 000 prize is up for grabs.
Rusty Johnson of Port Moody, BC, who placed first in the burger category at the Canadian Food Championships, carried his title forward at WFC to receive 1st place and $10, 000 in the burger category at WFC. Wayne Shymko of Winnipeg, MB, won the top prize in the chili category, also taking home $10, 000 cash. Both competed at the Final Table, with Rusty coming in 3rd overall and Wayne coming in 9th.
Final results for Canadian teams at WFC:
Final Table
3rd place: Rusty Johnson (Rusty’s BBQ) from Port Moody, BC
9th place: Wayne Shymko (Badazz BBQ) from Winnipeg, MB
Seafood
5th place: Doreen Prei (Team Prei) from Edmonton, AB
9th place: Sandeep Brar (Zinc) from Edmonton, AB
Pasta
2nd place: Stephen Perrin (Substance Food Group) from Ottawa, ON
7th place: Gabi Marin (Fantasyland Hotel) from Edmonton, AB
8th place: Lindsay Porter (El Cortez) from Edmonton, AB
Dessert
21st place: Arnaud Valade (Arno’s Fine French Pastry) from Edmonton, AB
26th place: Kirran Bakhshi (Special K) from Calgary, AB
Bacon
5th place: Katherine Foster from Regina, SK
13th place: Russell Bird (The Promo Addict) from Sherwood Park, AB
Recipe
6th place: Mike Callaghan (Team Canada) from Toronto, ON
Sandwich
17th place: Sheshona John (Radisson Edmonton South) from Edmonton, AB
25th place: Jonatan Billiau (Bourgondier)
Burger
1st place: Rusty Johnson (Rusty’s BBQ) from Port Moody, BC
6th place: Jaely Rova (Burger Infusion) from Edmonton, AB
Chili
1st place: Wayne Shymko (Badazz BBQ) from Winnipeg, MB
Darryl McGarey (Burning Ring of Fire) from Winnipeg, MB
BBQ
Brian Misko (House of Q) from Surrey, BC– No score
Rob Reinheardt (Prairie Smoke & Spice) from Pilot Butte, SK – No score
Greg Lundy (Smokin Boys and Hot Grills) from Ottawa, ON – No score
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