If you’ve been a reader for any amount of time, you’ve likely caught on to the fact that I am a pretty excitable gal. I get stoked by restaurant openings, interviews and events. November has only just begun but I am already super stoked for so many things that are happening. I have a really exciting interview with Jason Asher with UnderTow coming out soon, I’m nominated for an Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame Award and in a matter of days I am heading to Orange Beach, Alabama to be part of the 2017 World Food Championships Media Summit.
Photo Credit | World Food Championships
The 2017 World Food Championships are a really, really big deal in the food world. Although I’m not big into sports, I know enough to equate this event to the Superbowl, Final Four and the Stanley Cup…all rolled into one delicious dish at a time. There are tons of prizes at stake in a multitude of categories, but more than that this competition has launched careers. There have been more than 30 television food stars born from the event, not to mention the more than $1.5 million dollars in prize money awarded and the priceless brand connections and notoriety that the competitors have experienced.
The 2017 World Food Championships marks the 6th season of the epic food sport event. Don’t believe me? The 2016 event had over 1,200 contestants that made up 419 official teams. Those teams were made up of competitors from 14 countries, with 48 US states representing the red, white and blue. Last year’s event drew the attention of more than 20,000 spectators as chefs competed in 10 categories.
What are the 2017 World Food Championships Categories?
This year you’ll find cuisines from all around the globe. All participating recipes will be based on a specific theme of food and the 2017 theme is chicken. The official categories this year are:
World Invitational Steak Championship
There’s a very fancy method of judging (which I am so excited to say that I will be learning as part of the summit, meaning I will leave being a certified WFC judge!) for this tournament-style competition. Once a winner from each category has been named the judges will meet up one last time at the Final Table to name the overall winner who gets a whole bag of cash and some serious bragging rights as World Food Champion.
I cannot tell you how honored and excited I am to be a part of the 2017 World Food Championships Media Summit and how glad I am to know that a few of the competitors from my travels as well as some of my local food friends (Heather, John and Anthony, I’m looking at you!) I can’t wait to wake up Wednesday morning for my crazy early flight and you can be sure that I will be sharing all of the crazy event excitement to you via social media. If you don’t follow PhoenixBites on Facebook, there is no better time than now as I am sure to be going live throughout the event so you can feel like you’re right there with me!
I’m sending out major luck vibes and good juju to all the competitors (especially my Arizona friends) and cannot wait to see how my four days in Orange Beach play out!