A north-east chef has said she is over the moon after scooping a double bronze for Scotland in an international team cooking competition.
Alanna McCarthy, the head pastry chef at Meldrum House near Inverurie, was competing in her first Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg.
But she and five teammates, who work for Aberdeen-based catering company Entier, are taking home two bronze medals after a week of competition that ended on Wednesday.
“I’m absolutely delighted,” said Alanna, who is originally from Caithness.
“It was pretty full on, and a shock to the system in terms of the standards, but it’s been an amazing experience.”
Held every four years in Luxembourg City, the Culinary World Cup – along with the IKA Culinary Olympics in Germany – is regarded as one of the most prestigious in team cooking.
The teams, which this year represented 55 nations, competed in two events – the 120-cover Restaurant of Nations and The Chef’s Table, in which the chefs cook for a panel of judges.
At the weekend, the Scottish chefs secured a bronze in the Restaurant of Nations. They repeated the feat in Tuesday night’s Chef’s Table.
The medals represent the final score each team managed.
The teams start the events with maximum points, which are then deducted through errors. For example, a gold medal is handed out for scores between 90%-100% of maximum, meaning more than one team can win the same medal.
Two Culinary World Cup bronzes ‘a fantastic result’
The two bronzes are a step down from the double silver the Scotland team secured at the IKA Culinary Olympics two years ago.
But team director Kevin MacGillivray praised the Scotland squad in Luxembourg, which featured four chefs including Alanna competing at a major championship for the first time.
“This is a young team and they have done very well,” said Kevin, part of the 2006 Culinary World Cup double-gold winning Scotland team.
“Although the bronze medal might not seem much to some, it was a fantastic result.”
Alanna said the tournament demanded a very high standard for competitors. In one of the competition’s biggest shocks, the much-fancied Swedish team only managed a silver medal in the Chef’s Table event.
“The level was unreal,” Alanna said. “There was stuff I’d never seen before.”
Alanna’s teammates included team captain Orry Shand and fellow Aberdeenshire chef Craig Palmer. The two were the only people on the Scotland team to have taken part in the competition before.
Orry Shand is the executive chef for Entier and a former Scottish chef of the year.
The other chefs to win the two bronzes at the Culinary World Cup were David Miller from Edinburgh, Craig Couper from Kirriemuir and Fraser Cameron from Dumfries.
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