A delegation from Suomen Kaasuenergia travelled to Stuttgart, Germany, in February to support the Culinary Team of Finland at the IKA/Culinary Olympics. Sales Manager Niilo Rossi, who led the trip, describes it as a multisensory experience. “It was wonderful to see a team that had trained for so long working together in such a stressful situation. Preparing the dinners took almost six hours, followed by cleaning the kitchen. Every stage had been rehearsed and the presentation of the dishes refined many times. You could certainly see—and taste—it,” Rossi says.
The trip also highlighted how closely the national team works together. “It was an honour to support the Finnish team. I can tell you that our cheering rang out loud and clear. The atmosphere was like any major sporting event.” Alongside cheering, Rossi and his group tasted the competition dishes. “I am not being biased when I say we were alongside the world’s best. It was an incredible experience!” Rossi says.
Finland takes an impressive fifth place overall
The competition consisted of two events: Chef’s Table and Hot Kitchen. Each was graded separately at gold, silver or bronze level. The overall winner was the team with the highest combined score. As well as taste and presentation, judges assessed factors including food waste and kitchen cleanliness.
The Culinary Team of Finland achieved silver in the new Chef’s Table event. Norway won the highly competitive national team competition overall, followed by Sweden and Iceland. Finland finished fifth out of 29 countries.
“The team did its best, and I am really pleased with everyone’s contribution. The competition was extremely tough,” says Executive Director Tapio Laine of the Culinary Team of Finland.
“We set out to win gold and delivered a strong performance. I am disappointed that it was not enough to win this time. Anything can happen in competition. The team did its best, though, and I am very proud of them,” says Team Manager Kristian Vuojärvi.
In the Chef’s Table event, teams prepared a six-course menu for 12 people, including hot and cold finger food, a main course, a vegan dish, a dessert and petits fours.
“It was a strong, consistent performance and everything went to plan. At the beginning, the organisers had problems with the competition kitchen arrangements, which created challenges for us. However, the team pulled together and stayed on schedule right through to the end of service,” Vuojärvi said.
Finland’s Hot Kitchen performance was graded at silver level. The team prepared a three-course menu for 110 people: Norwegian halibut as the starter, Finnish rabbit as the main course and currants for dessert.
“Everything went well and according to plan. Our work in the kitchen was the best I have seen in six years of competing and training with the team,” said team captain Samuel Mikander about the Hot Kitchen event.