As we learned from the Estonian pages of EE last week, the creations of Urve Manuel (née Voitk), contributed to a bronze medal at the International Culinary Olympics just concluded in Germany. Roary MacPherson, executive chef at the Fairmont Hotel in St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, won third prize out of a field of 117 in the Festive Platters and Presentation category. In this event the food is not tasted and judging is based on presentation alone. As the title suggests, platters form a big part of the presentation. To get this part right, Mr MacPherson turned to award-winning Newfoundland glass artist Urve Manuel with a request to create custom platters and gravy boats on a Newfoundland theme of cod and the dories used for cod jigging. After some brainstorming, Urve created a fleet of small dories, a school of medium sized cod-shaped serving platters and the centerpiece, a large cod-shaped platter made in sections.

The judges were very impressed with the serving dishes, especially noting the large sectional platter, which allowed placing complementary foods and garnishes on their own section, to be put together for a stunning presentation, and convenient disassembly for serving and travel. When interviewed on CBC, Mr MacPherson lauded the contribution of Urve and has since asked her to make dishes for the whole Team Newfoundland, with which he plans to enter the 2012 Culinary Olympics.

If you wish to see more of Urve’s works or order a stained glass panel or something from her Olympic Dory Series for Christmas, you can get preliminary information from her web page http://www.astonesthrowglass.c... .

(Gary Kean’s article about Urve Manuel “Local artist helped provincial chef win medal at international culinary competition” in the Corner Brook, Newfoundland daily The Western Star is available online at
http://www.thewesternstar.com/... ed.)

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