Sustainability , a topical theme for the 2019 ‘Best Ōra King Dish’ Awards, has revealed its line-up of international winners during an official awards ceremony at Spy Valley, Marlborough Sounds.
Kiwi chef, Phil Clark, renowned for his successful career in some of Auckland’s must prestigious restaurants, Sidart and Merediths, and at London’s three Michelin-starred restaurants Tom Aikens, Arbutus and Wild Honey, was awarded the coveted food industry accolade for his dish ‘Ocean, Seabed, Land and Rivers’.
Phil’s impressive interpretation embraced the theme ‘Sustain’, featuring an edible ‘plastic bag washed up on the seashore’ from fish stock jelly filled with Ōra king caviar to demonstrate the importance of taking care of our oceans, seabed, land and rivers by reducing the use of plastic.
Phil says; “I’ve drawn inspiration from my own sustainability stories and experience living on a small island surrounded by water. Every individual and industry has a responsibility to implement sustainable practices, so I welcomed the challenge to think critically about how to tell my sustainability journey through this dish.”
Finalists from around the world flew to New Zealand for the annual celebration, now in its seventh year. The Ōra King Awards (The Ōra’s) is one of the most prestigious events on the culinary calendar, this year’s theme ‘Sustain’ challenged chefs to create a dish using Ōra King salmon worthy of the coveted accolade that represented how they approach sustainability in their restaurants.
“We all have a responsibility to live more sustainably,” says NZKS CEO Grant Rosewarne. “Our annual Ōra King Awards provide a platform to engage our global community of chefs, who are running restaurants at the highest level, and who have a real ability to make an impact on our food system. The sustainability stories we received from this year’s record-breaking number of entrants was truly inspiring and affirmation that our chef-partners are motivated to be an agent of change with us.”
“Our team at Ōra King has been so inspired by the moving sustainable stories submitted by this year’s chefs, that we will collate the best entries into a coffee table book featuring sustainable food stories, to be published later this year.”
The award winning line-up of internationally acclaimed chefs includes:
- The winner of the Best Ōra King Dish Australia: Joachim Lim, MPD Steak Kitchen, Victoria
- The winner of the Best Ōra King Dish North America: Vincenzo Loseto, Eleven Madison Park, New York
- The winner of the Best Ōra King Dish Japan: Yasuhiro Tsuji, Arc-en-ciel Luxe Mariage Nagoya
The award ceremony caps a tour of New Zealand curated by Ōra King, during which chefs visit the hatchery in Te Waikoropupu Springs, sea farms in the Marlborough Sounds, and private tour of New Zealand King Salmon’s facilities in Nelson, NZ.
