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January 2003
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Australia's First Ever Grand Master Pizza Champion
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Brisbane's Carlton Crest hotel sous Chef Sidney Roberts won the inaugural Dairy Farmers' Best of the Best Grand Masters Pizza Challenge at Fine Food Melbourne on September 1, 2002, at Melbourne's Convention Centre.
Chef Roberts, who won the national title in 2000, was invited back to compete and take part along with the four other previous winners in the appropriately named Grand Masters cook off. A delighted Sidney Roberts said, "At Picasso's we have always strived to produce the best pizza in Brisbane and now we know we cook the best pizzas in the country! This is a great honour to win, working alongside so many talented chefs. It is great to see what everyone is doing and share information. The hotel's restaurant, Picasso's, has a long established reputation to maintain and second best won't do. We are very competitive and it can only be for our customers benefit."
"Chef Roberts can rightly claim the title of Grand Master Pizza Champion," said Dairy Farmers Foodservice Business Manager Lori-Jay Ellis. "When he won the Dairy Farmers Best of the Best National Pizza Challenge in 2000, his pizzas were described as innovative and challenging. This year, his pizzas were simply incomparable and he seems to have gone from strength to strength in just these past two years. These pizzas are gourmet meals that happen to be on a dough base rather than a fine china plate. Anybody preparing pizzas like this can justifiably charge well above the going rate for standard pizzas and even at a higher price they would still be extremely good value for money."
Sidney Roberts is a professional chef rather than a pizza chef, which some people believes gave him an edge. "It was good to see professionally trained chefs enter this year," said Ellis. " I believe it is people like Sidney that are helping the development and creativity of the gourmet pizza market, but regardless of your training, you need the passion and that clearly shines through in all our competitors."
Simon Best, the popular Queenslander from Augello's in Mooloolaba, was the previous day's winner of the well-established annual Dairy Farmers Best of the Best National Pizza Challenge. Competing along the three other finalists, both Chef Roberts and Simon were required to make four pizzas - an entrée, main course, seafood and dessert pizza. Head judge of the Australian Culinary Federation, president Glen Austin, commented the standard was exceptional, but there could only be one winner.
This is the fourth time that Augello's has been named a finalist in the competition …no small achievement as the contest receives hundreds of entries from across Australia each year. Simon's background in the hospitality industry includes stints in some of the best hotels in Australia.
The Dairy Farmers Best of the Best National Pizza Challenge is held each year and was established in 1999. The Dairy Farmers Best of the Best Grand Masters Pizza Challenge was held for the first time in 2002 and brought together all previous winners of the annual contest. For information on how you can enter the Dairy Farmers Best of the Best National Pizza Challenge contact Jeremy Weinberg (jeremyweinberg@tailormade.com.au) at Tailor-Made Marketing and Public Relations (PO Box 505 Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012 Australia). PH (612) 9699 4227 or FAX 8399 1318. Mobile 0413 047 661.
AUSTRALIAN PIZZA TRIVIA
- Over 80 percent of the Australian population purchases and consumes pizza in any three month period.
- The majority of pizza consumers are aged 25 to 44 years.
- Couples with children at home are the main consumers of pizza.
- The most frequent purchasers tend to be young single males.
- Over 133 million pizzas are bought each year = 7 pizzas per man woman and child
Research: Colmar Brunton 1999
"There is no better pizza than what I've tasted today," says Judge and Chef Glenn Austin. "I would put Australian pizza up against any pizza in America. Whether we compete here in Australia or we come to America, just be sure you bring your best." Austin made the statement in response to a challenge by PMQ's Steve Green, who attended the competition with PMQ's Australian publishers Stephen and Cathy Millar. More in the next issue to see if there's any follow up news to report.
PMQ
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