Chef Helmut Mathae

At the 2017 CCFCC Conference in Calgary, Helmut Mathae was accepted into the CCFCC Honor Society. Helmut earned his journeyman papers for Pastry & Baking in Austria in 1946. He joined the Winnipeg branch of the Canadian Culinary Federation in 1981 and became a local branch director. He has held positions the  Fairmont Hotel, the  Northstar Hotel and the Winnipeg Convention Centre.  Helmuts accomplishments include wining Silver Medals in Frankfurt Culinary Olympics in 1984 & 1988 and Won Gold medal in 1992 in Frankfurt. In 1987, Vancouver, B.C. Helmut was awarded by the International Judging Committee Professional judging status. In 2002 he judged the Baking Contest for Skills Manitoba  Competition. In 2002 at the Manitoba Legislative building, he coordinated pastry for a Manitoba menu for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew. He has been a director of the Winnipeg branch for many years, has participated in Western and National Conventions and was involved with fundraising for the Olympic teams and many fundraising events.

In 2004 Helmut received his diploma in vocational industrial teacher education and started his new career as a culinary arts teacher.  He has a  passion to teach the future generations of up and coming young chefs. As an instructor, he was always involved with local culinary competitions and instructed many students to win medals. In 2010 Helmut was acknowledged as Chef of the year 2010 for the Winnipeg Branch. Upon his retirement in 2013 the CCFCC awarded Helmut with Life Membership.

Helmut is retired from the Riel school division but still finds the time to substitute at various schools as a culinary instructor, giving back what he has learned to the Chefs of the future.

Chef Christy Barkman

Chef Christy Barkman  received a bronze medal in the Americas Regional Global Young Chefs Challenge for chefs 25 and under that was held on July 8, 2017 at  Florida Technical College, Kissimmee, Florida. She participated as Canada’s participant in the World Association of Chefs Societies, Worldchefs Americas Continental Regional Tryouts.

This follows her second place finish at the Saputo Junior Challenge in Calgary in May and her win in the  Manitoba Saputo Junior Challenge.

Congratulations Chef Christy.

The May meeting of CCFCC Winnipeg was held at Pratt’s Food Services and was hosted by Grant Avery and Chef Ferdinand Catalan . The association was treated to a sumptuous Prime Rib Buffet with all the trimmings. Membership was informed about the Pratt’s Advantage and the ways it can make the Chefs job easier. We were able to welcome new members Mark Pichette and Elen Chen to the association.

Bruno Burnichon was presented with The Order of the  Legion of Honour from France by France’s ambassador to Canada at 17 Wing ,Winnipeg Air Force Base on April 25 2017.

The Legion of Honour is the Highest decoration that France can bestow.  Bruno is a long standing associate member of CCFCC Winnpeg and has been instrumental in educational and fund raising efforts and received the Associate of the Year Award in 2016.

Congratulations Bruno.

The April meeting of the CCFCC Winnipeg Branch was held at Gordon Food Service’s fantastic facility on Sterling Lyon Parkway. Following an insightful tour of their state of the art operation by Nelson, we were treated to a tasty and wholesome dinner featuring an array of the products presented.

The educational portion of the meeting focussed on seasonal harvest transitions and their impacts on the current state of produce. We learned about the methods that Markon farms of Salinas California uses to insure our market availability of fine produce.

We were introduced to the launch of the new line of Pepper Mill salad dressings and were sweetened up by Ice cream varieties and a dessert bar featuring the offerings of Wow Factor desserts.

We would like to welcome new members Jose Noboa and Mark Delores to the association.

Special thanks to Bob and Howard for their long time support of the branch, and to the team at Gordon Food Services for an informative and delicious meeting.

Congratulations to Christy Barkman of Red River College who won the Manitoba Saputo Culinary Challenge and will go on to the National competition in Calgary.  First runner up was Colin Rae of Red River College. Honourable mention to the other competitors,  Tara Hall of JOEY restaurant, Vien Salimbacod of the Glendale Golf and Country Club and Alexis Javier of Red River College.

On Saturday April 1, 2017 the CCFCC and Red River College hosted the Saputo Junior Challenge. The competition was organized by Chef Micheal Fitzhenry . Kitchen Judges were Chef Paul Lemire, Chef Terry Geretta,  and Chef Brian Humniski. 

Competition Judges were Chef Ron Dobrinsky, Chef Jeremy Langemann and Colleen Robbins of Saputo.

Thankyou to Red River College for hosting the event.

The 2017 CCFCC Awards Gala was held on Saturday March 25, 2017 at the RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg. The evening was hosted by Chef Quentin Harty and his Culinary team.  Action stations were presented by Chef Jesse Freisen and Sous Chef Connie Klassen of Pizzaria Gusto , Chef Andy Ormiston and Selkirk Regional Secondary students, Chef Mark Falgui and Chef Terry Willerton and Tec Voc High school Students. 

Awards were presented to

Michael Keeler , Chef of the Year

Bonnie Milarchuk of Binner Marketing, Associate of the Year

Lifetime Achievement , Chef Karl Omen

Lifetime Honorary Members Gaspar Scholcz and Mo Razik

Canadian Culinary Federation Honor Society, Chef Nick Marchak