Often lauded as a food paradise, Singapore has no lack of gastronomic events to celebrate great food, fine wines or gourmet coffee. But among them, World Gourmet Summit (WGS) takes the cake.
What Is WGS?
Established for over two decades, WGS is an internationally recognised food and wine event held annually in Singapore. Each year, WGS brings together Michelin-starred chefs, world renowned vintners, local culinary talents and food connoisseurs in Singapore.
To encourage excellence in the local gourmet scene, WGS also spearheaded the Awards of Excellence (AOE). Cpurrently, the only national accolade that recognises outstanding individuals in Singapore’s F&B and hospitality industries.
Starting 2015, WGS partnered with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and A La Carte Productions to incorporate the Overseas Development Programme (ODP). Running in its second year, this attachment program sends selected AOE finalists across the globe to gain international exposure and to enhance their skills.
What I Learnt From The Sharing Session
On 6th December 2016, a media event was held at Arn Nan Alfresco Bar + Bistro where three of the eight ODP-2016 participants shared their overseas experience with us.
As a foodie who likes to eat but doesn’t cook, I have to admit that I didn’t think I will learn much from the sharing session. In fact, I attended the event with only one thing in mind- the canapes that will be served by Arn Nan Alfresco Bar + Bistro at the end of the session!
As I expected, the food at Arn Nan Alfresco Bar + Bistro was good! But at the end of the event, my biggest takeaway was not about what are the best dishes here. My main takeaway is “learning is a process that never ends”.
The first speaker and the participant that caught my attention most (more than the delicious food anyway) was Mr. Kenny Kong (left in the photo below), pastry chef from Resorts World Sentosa. Kenny is 59 years old. He is not old considering the current life expectancy. But he is at an age where some of his peers are already considering retirement. Yet, the pastry veteran, who is the President of the Singapore Pastry Alliance and mentor to the Singapore team that won the Asian Pastry Cup 2016, continues to learn and better his craft. Despite his achievements, he does not think that he is too good to learn from others. And in the brief interaction I had with him after the sharing session, he came across as a humble man with zero airs. Success did not bloat his ego; it fueled his hunger for knowledge instead. Let us remember this important attitude.
In the same afternoon, I was also introduced to Mr. Peter A. Knipp, the man who collaborated with STB to start WGS in Singapore twenty years ago.
One of the first things he said to me was “Singaporeans like their food. But they don’t know their food.”
To bring his point across, he asked about the history of Singapore’s Hainanese Chicken Rice, the answer to which I don’t know. What I do know is that chicken rice is our national dish and the most expensive version in Singapore is possibly at Chatterbox from Mandarin Orchard Hotel. He then went on to strengthen his point by asserting that pasta originated from Arab instead of Italy or China. What? Really?
As he continued the food quiz, my lack of knowledge for the foods I like and even blogged about became so apparent that I have to (partially) agree with his above statement. (I only partially agree because I cannot represent the whole Singapore population.) Once again, I was reminded that learning is a process that never ends, because there will always be things that I don’t know yet. I suppose both Mr. Knipp and STB also knows this important fact. That is probably the reason why they included ODP in WGS- for our local culinary talents to continue learning what they have yet to know.
Now please excuse me. I need to go google if pasta really did originate from Arab instead of Italy like Mr. Knipp said.
WGS 2016
Internationally recognised food and wine event
Website: http://www.worldgourmetsummit.com/wgs2016/main.php/media
Written by Denise Chua myfoodstory.sg.
