Restaurant & Cafe: Meet The New Beef and Lamb Ambassador Chefs
This article first appeared online in Restaurant & Cafe, 30 March 2022
Beef + Lamb New Zealand is proud to announce the next four chefs who have been selected to be the voices of Beef + Lamb NZ in the foodservice space for the next two years.
The 2022-2023 Beef + Lamb Ambassador Chefs are:
Cameron Davies, The Fat Duck, Te Anau
“I’m motivated by my inner drive to be better every day as a person, a chef, and a leader. There are always things that can be improved upon and refined and we can always find
ways to do this. There have been chefs I have looked up to for years who have been Beef + Lamb Ambassadors and now to be on their level it’s pretty special,” expressed Davies.
Andrew May, Amayjen The Restaurant, Palmerston North
“I am motivated by my team, and I am dedicated to teaching them. They are a young team so to be able to impart my knowledge and help them grow into their careers is really rewarding,” said May.
It’s great to be able to take them foraging and to show them all the different things around the Manawatu that can be used in our dishes and to listen to their ideas about flavour combinations and what will work and how their ideas can be executed onto the plate.”
MacLean Fraser, Artisan at Bolton Hotel, Wellington
“I am passionate about using ethical and sustainable food including offal and wild game. Knowing where my food comes from and making sure the animal is respected with nothing being wasted is very important to me. This comes through in my hunting as well – as a chef we have a duty to use as much as possible of the animal and that’s where you can get creative using all the offal and offcuts,” explained Fraser.
BJ Sebastian, Mudbrick Vineyard, Waiheke Island
“I find that experimentation comes from necessity as I want to minimise waste, so it’s about how I can use every part of the ingredients I am using. I am always pushing the boundaries with food and love coming up with new ideas,” said Sebastian.
“Getting the little things right all adds up to making everything on the plate perfect and working together in harmony. I take things step by step with no shortcuts to ensure perfection, that’s just the way I like things to be.”
This is the 26th year Beef + Lamb New Zealand has been recognising and rewarding a wealth of talented chefs and building a ’Hall of Fame’ of culinary rock stars, which features the likes of Phil Clark, Peter Gordon, Kate Fay and Rex Morgan to name just a few.
With the difficulties facing the hospitality sector over the past two years, it was heartening to see Kiwi chefs striving for recognition and taking the next steps to elevate their career. Beef + Lamb NZ is looking forward to sharing what these chefs have to offer and how they will continue to shape New Zealand's food story by cooking with New Zealand beef and lamb.