July 9 will mark a global collaboration of 37 chefs as they participate in the 2015 Grand Gelinaz Shuffle.
From San Francisco to Melbourne, 37 of the world’s culinary talent will participate in an international restaurant 'swap'.
The brainchild of creative directors Andrea Petrini and Alexandra Swenden, Gelinaz has existed on a local level since 2005, but is now expanding worldwide.
In a heavily populated world of food events and congresses, Gelinaz takes the chefs back into the kitchen to celebrate and explore their individual creative culinary identities. Personally selected by Petrini, each chef was chosen for his or her unique approach to cooking.
"It was an impossible task and I would have been happy to double the number of participating chefs, but logistically it was not tangible,” Petrini says. “The line-up for this performance is a family of chefs who take risk as a starting point and are fueled by a desire to explore.”
The shuffle transports chefs from the comfort of their home environment and routine and delivers them into a different culture and country. The collaboration will offer the diner a unique and exciting experience and leave each kitchen and participating chef with a fresh understanding of a different culinary culture, in an international exchange of knowledge.
Each chef will travel to the country of destination three days prior to the event to prepare his or her unique eight-course menu. They will not take ingredients from home and will prepare dishes combining their culinary approach with the energy of their location.
The staff in each restaurant will receive instructions to welcome the new chef and provide full access to the restaurant. That chef will have three days to learn the ropes, grasp an understanding of the restaurant’s style and develop/experiment with ingredients to begin the rigorous constructing an 8-course menu.
Sharing styles of kitchen practice, structure, and approach as well as front of house philosophy will trigger ideas and improvements for all involved.
