Two of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre’s (the Centre) Culinary team members, Executive Pastry Chef, Jamaluddin bin Zainal Abidin and Senior Chef de Partie, Mustaffa Kamal bin Othman, formed part of ‘Team Malaysia’, who recently competed in the "Olympics" of gelato, the Coppa del Mondo della Gelateria or the Gelato World Cup 2020 in Italy. The team flew the Malaysian flag proudly and represented the country, placing top 8 in the world against the best global gelato makers, pastry chefs, chefs and ice sculptors. Malaysia was one of only three teams from Asia to qualify and compete in the Gelato World Cup 2020.

Now in its ninth edition, the Gelato World Cup 2020 featured select professionals from the fields of gelato, pastry, chocolate and high cuisine from all around the world. International teams competed in eight challenges over three days (glass single-portion, mystery box, gelato-cake, entrée of haute cuisine, ice- and brittle- sculptures and the new trend of gelato-snacks, in addition to the final Grand Buffet, which is the presentation of all the creations) for the prestigious title. Each team included a gelato chef, a pastry chef, a chef de cuisine, an ice sculptor and team leader, and were judged by 13 international jury members.

Speaking about his experience in Italy, Chef Jamaluddin, shared, “We were honoured represent our country at the Gelato World Cup and are proud of how we managed to showcase Malaysia’s rich culinary heritage and flavours to the world. Our flavours are not common in traditional gelato but thanks to our team’s hard work and many hours of research and development we successfully infused local ingredients into our creative creations. These included pandan, gula Melaka, pink guava, banana, mango, mandarin orange, lychee, ginger, black Chinese tea, passion fruit and lemongrass.”

Congratulating Chef Jamaluddin and Chef Mustaffa, the Centre’s Executive Chef, Hisham bin Jaafar, said, “It is great to have two of our team members representing ‘Team Malaysia’ at the Gelato World Cup 2020. We are very proud of the team’s performance and hope to learn from their experience in Italy to create new and exciting food combinations that can tantalise our guests’ taste buds.”

The Gelato World Cup 2020 is a biennial competition jointly organised by Gelato e Cultura and the 41st International Trade Show of Artisan Gelato, Pastry, Bakery and the Coffee World (SIGEP) 2020 - the largest and most comprehensive B2B trade fair in the world for gelato and confectionery. For more information visit, www.coppamondogelateria.it/en/.