iNwine: Culinary Championships are within reach for a select group of Kelowna chefs

KELOWNA – Kelowna won’t be offering up golden plates this year, but that doesn’t mean the push toward culinary excellence will be slowed.  It may just mean that the spotlight shines brighter on Kelowna than ever before.

This city will host Canada’s Great Kitchen Party on Friday, Nov.15 at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Grand Okanagan Resort. The event will celebrate excellence and to provide young Canadians the opportunity to be extraordinary through sport, music and food.  It will also give local chefs a chance to compete at the Culinary Championship, which are relocating to Ottawa, from Kelowna  for Jan. 31 to Feb. 1.

“Kelowna has been the proud host of the National Canadian Culinary Championships for the past nine years, but we have yet to have had the opportunity to have a local chef compete,” said Daniel Bibby, Kelowna co-chair. “This November we’ll be able to showcase seven of our local Okanagan chefs and have Kelowna represented at the National event in Ottawa, it is pretty exciting.”

The event begins with the culinary competition where seven talented and distinguished chefs from the Okanagan Valley serve their chosen dish, paired with a Canadian beverage, to a panel of judges. On that panel is James Chatto, Chef Bernard Cassavant, Judy Burns, Jennifer Schell, Chef Mark Filatow and Chef Jeremy Lyupen.

The local chefs selected to compete in this prestigious culinary event are: Rob Walker from  Big White Ski Resort, Kai Koroll from BLOCK ONE Restaurant at 50th Parallel Estate, James Holmes from Salt & Brick, Chris Braun from RauDZ Regional Table, Brock Bowes from CrAsian Foods Corp, Andrea Callan from trhe Red Fox Club at Indigenous World Winery and Jeff Van Geest Miradoro at Tinhorn Creek

After the culinary competition, the 350 + VIP guests at the event will be invited to the second part of the evening, the Celebration Gala. Elite athletes from amateur, para and pro sport will be introduced to the guests and they will have the opportunity to enjoy some wonderful music.

Tickets are available here.

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