Next week Wales is staging the biggest hospitality skills event the country has ever seen in a three-day hospitality hub and exhibition.
For the first time the event is open and free of charge to the public and trade.
The Welsh International Culinary Championships (WICC) brings together craft chefs, craft butchers and front of house staff in three days of competition. Organised by the Culinary Association of Wales (CAW), the 2024 WICC will also be hosting the Skills Competition Wales hospitality finals for the country’s top hospitality apprentices.
The WICC’s showpiece National and Junior Chef of Wales and Welsh Butcher of the Year competitions have attracted a record line-up of finalists. The climax of the Championships will be the crowning of the winners at the WICC Industry Awards Dinner on the evening of Wednesday 24 January.
National Chef of Wales
Ryan Jones, head chef at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff is seeking to become National Chef of Wales for the second time in his career, having previously won the coveted title in 2014.
Three of last year’s finalists are back to compete again – Jamie Tully, executive chef Chartists 1770 at The Trewythen, Llanidloes; Wayne Barnard, junior sous chef at Benito Luis, Caerleon and Matthew Owen, head chef at The Celtic Manor, Newport.
The competition’s nine finalists will be given four hours to cook a creative, three course dinner for 12 people, with a vegan starter followed by a main course using two different cuts of GI Welsh Lamb and a dessert featuring Denbigh plums, ice cream, chocolate and biscuit or tuille. A minimum of six Welsh GI products must be used in the menu.
Junior Chef of Wales
Last year’s runner up, Abbie Williams, a learner at Coleg y Cymoedd’s Nantgarw Campus, will be hoping to go one better, when she will face another of the 2023 finalists, Katie Duffy, chef at The Halfway, Llanelli. They will be competing against eight other finalists making their debut in the competition.
The junior chefs will be given three hours to cook a creative, two course dinner for six people, with a starter suitable for a vegetarian diet and a main course using two different cuts of GI Welsh Beef. A minimum of four Welsh GI products must be used in the dishes.
The winner will get an automatic seeding in the semi-final of the Craft Guild of Chefs’ 2024 UK Young National Chef of the Year competition.
CAW president Arwyn Watkins, OBE, said:
“The quality of the chefs is phenomenal which is what we want for the top culinary contests in Wales. Both finals are going to be very competitive and I can’t wait to see these talented Welsh chefs displaying their skills.”
Dine at WICC to experience Wales’ top chefs’ work
A lucky few WICC visitors have the unique opportunity to “walk in the shoes of a judge” and book one of the WICC competitor menus. The National Chef of Wales three-course menu is £30 per person and is available on Monday 22nd January from 12.30pm and the Junior Chef of Wales two-course menu is £20 per person and is available on Tuesday 23rd January from 4pm.
To book your place visit: office@culinaryassociation.wales
Don’t delay as tickets are selling out fast.
Six finalists make the cut for the Welsh Craft Butcher of the Year showdown
Sponsored by CAW and Cambrian Training Company, the final brings together the country’s best Welsh butchers. The competition could be a stepping stone for the winner to join the Craft Butchery Team Wales, which includes five former Welsh Butcher of the Year or Welsh Young Butcher of the Year winners.
The butchers will undertake two tasks to showcase their skills to judges from the Craft Butchery Team Wales. They will have 30 minutes to cut a whole lamb into primal joints, as well as clean their work area. For the second task, they will have one hour and 20 minutes to produce a visually exciting display to merchandise the meat showcasing both their skills and creativity. The butchers must also create a minimum of two lamb products, identical in appearance and size, that judges will weigh to check consistency.
The judges will be looking for technical skills, innovation, creativity and a detailed description of each product created, together with cooking instructions.
Green Chef Challenge sponsored by Compass Cymru
CAW have also launched a new competition to find the best green chef team in the United Kingdom. Open to all UK-based chefs, the competition is for teams of two, comprising a senior chef and a commis chef under the age of 25. Chef teams will be challenged to create a three course, predominantly vegetable-based menu for six guests in three hours.
The courses include a taco style starter using pointed cabbage, chickpeas and thyme, a main course using potatoes, wild mushrooms and leek and a dessert using pears, lemon verbena and white chocolate.
Wide range of WICC competitive skills classes
The Wales heats of the Major Chefs Challenge and the 2024 Riso Gallo Young Risotto Chef Challenge will also be taking place at the WICC. There’s a wide range of WICC skills competitions for hospitality students to enter ranging from Knife Skills to Welsh Beef and Welsh Lamb Main Course and Modern Cold Desserts. The Cygnet Gin brand ambassador will be giving cocktail making masterclasses at 11am and 3pm each day.
CAW president Arwyn Watkins, OBE is delighted that the industry, FE colleges, apprenticeship providers, the team delivering the Inspiring Skills Excellence Programme and Food & Drink Wales are coming together to create an unique hospitality skills showcase for Wales.
“The WICC will be an annual hospitality hub open to the public and hospitality trade, showcasing Welsh food, drink, hospitality and skills over three days and providing a real opportunity to have a conversation with the industry,” he said.
“This year’s event will be the first step on the road to 2026, as Wales gears up to host Worldchefs Congress & Expo 2026 and Global Chefs Challenge. Hundreds of top chefs from across the world will be coming to ICC Wales in May 2026 to meet and compete, attracting thousands of visitors from the UK and internationally. It therefore made excellent sense to move WICC to the same prestigious venue” he explained.
He thanked all the sponsors and stakeholders who are sponsoring and supporting the CAW to ensure the WICC’s continued success.
The WICC’s headline sponsors are the Welsh Government, Castell Howell, Hybu Cig Cymru / Meat Promotion Wales, ICC Wales, Cambrian Training Company, Kentaur, Churchill, MCS Technical Products, Roller Grill, Radnor Hills, Dick Knifes, Cygnet Gin, Capital Cuisine, Ecolab, City & Guilds and Compass Cymru.
Feature image: Stephanie Belcher will be going for the Junior and National Chef of Wales double in consecutive years.
