The competition was tight among the 30 finalists who recreated the recipes they entered at the three-day big pizza bake-off held at Hostex. An exciting variety of pizzas came out of the five categories: poultry or meat, seafood, vegetarian, speciality or dessert, plus the bonus Tabasco category.
Priscilla Mbana from Khayelitsha was also a winner and walked away with the R10,000 Tabasco category prize for her tomato bredie pizza with Smoked Red Jalapeno Tabasco sauce.
The Global Pizza Challenge in South Africa, which is endorsed by the South African Chefs Association, is about promoting and encouraging culinary innovation in pizza-making, which is the world's most popular food sector. The competition celebrates pizza making as a "distinguished, passionate and noble livelihood" and it strives to advance the quality, diversity and popularity of pizza globally, according to the Global Pizza Challenge website.
"Every year our pizza champion hopefuls get more and more innovative, creative and bold in their recipe suggestions, with delicious and interesting flavour combinations," says Martin Kobald, Global Pizza Challenge organiser, honorary president of SACA, and UN World Food Program Ambassador. "I believe South Africa is among the leaders in world-class pizza creations and that this competition is spurring the pizza sector in South Africa to greater heights year on year. Choosing this year's winners was certainly not easy but happily the task entailed tasting many delectable pizza creations - and pizza is just the perfect food."
