A Big Year for Wales

The Culinary Association of Wales (CAW) is organizing a 30th birthday celebration dinner at the International Convention Centre Wales on June 20 and is inviting all previous winners of the National and Junior Chef of Wales competitions. This year promises to be a memorable one for the CAW, which ended 2022 by winning the bid to host the Worldchefs Congress & Expo 2026 at the International Convention Centre Wales, Newport.

The CAW held a successful Welsh International Culinary Championships over three days in February, where the National Chef of Wales competition was won by Matthew Smith and the new Junior Chef of Wales is Stephanie Belcher. Both chefs have represented the Senior and Junior Culinary Teams Wales. A popular winner at the championships was Ukrainian refugee Yuliia Batrak, 17, who won the overall award for best live open class competitor after achieving perfect 100% scores in two skills competitions. Originally from Kiev, hospitality student Yuliia received a standing ovation at the awards ceremony.

CAW representatives Sion Hughes and his commis Calum Smith, former Junior Culinary Team Wales teammates, have qualified for the Global Chefs Challenge 2024 final in Singapore.

In Conversation with Rebecca van Bommel, Worldchefs Young Chefs Ambassador