Buffalo Rising Online

Oct 15th, 6:39pm By Eli George

It happens once every four years. The prizes are the gold, silver, and bronze medals and only one can be crowned the winner. You guessed it! It’s time for the Culinary Olympics. This time they’ll be held in Erfurt, Germany and Buffalo will be able to root for it’s own hometown: Delaware North is sending their own team of chef to the competition, put on by the IKA.

Delaware North provides hospitality and food service around the world, but their global headquarters are located right here in downtown Buffalo. They’ve assembled a team of chefs, led by renowned master chef Roland Henin, who recently celebrated his 25th anniversary as a master chef. The team totals five: Kevin Doherty of TD Bankworth Garden in Boston, Ambarish Lulay at The Ahwahnee in Yosemite National Park, Rick Ortiz of Soldier Field in Chicago, and two WNYer’s: Scott Green of the Hamburg Fairgrounds Gaming & Raceway and Tab Dauton of HSBC Arena in Buffalo.

Their leader, Roland Henin, could make all the difference for the team. Henin has some experience with the Culinary Olympics already. As a master chef, Henin is just one of around 60 chefs in all of America to be honored with such a title. In 1992, he was the coach of the gold medal US Culinary Olympic Team. The next year, he won the first ever National Chef Professionalism Award ever granted by the American Culinary Federation.

Henin has worked for Delaware North since 1998 and since January, he has been training with the five other chefs who have not had any Culinary Olympics experience to prepare them for their attempt to bring home the gold. They have to bring their own cookware and food and are just provided with kitchen space. They have to prepare and present the food in just a few days time. The team will practice making the same dishes over and over again to ensure perfection.

Christopher Whitcomb, part of the marketing department for Delaware North, says, “The IKA Culinary Olympics is the largest culinary exhibition in the world and is considered by many the greatest culinary test for chefs. The best chefs in the world come to compete in the event every four years. Delaware North, with its many talented chefs at ballparks, state and national parks and world-class resorts, felt it had the culinary talent to be represented at the event.”

To learn more about Delaware North and their bout to win the gold medal, visit their website. The chefs are set to compete on October 17th and if you’d like to learn more about the Culinary Olympics, visit the IKA’s website.