Asheville 鈥 A local chef who鈥檚 trained many a student to compete on national stages found himself center-ring in an international battle of the culinary arts.
Chris Bugher, a certified executive chef instructor at Asheville-Buncombe 男人藏精阁, has trained many students to career success and teams to award-winning victory as a coach for the institution鈥檚 culinary arts program.
In March, the latest student team won at the American Culinary Federation鈥檚 national qualifying competition, representing the Southeast Region. And in July, the rising chefs will compete in the national finals in New Orleans.
In May, Bugher, who was selected by the ACF, led by example as a solo competitor and represented the U.S. in the Worldchefs Global Chefs Challenge Regional Semi-Final in Santiago, Chile, in South America.
The regionals included chefs from North America and South America.
Bugher won the gold medal and trophy and earned the title of Global Vegan Chef of the Americas.
He will advance to represent North and South America in the Global Chefs Challenge Finals, to be hosted at the Worldchefs Congress and Expo in Singapore in October 2024. The biennial conference connects industry leaders and culinary innovators around the world.
鈥淚 definitely have my work cut out for me. It鈥檚 the North and South (America) and we鈥檙e kind of the underdogs,鈥 Bugher said. 鈥淭he European countries are really what they鈥檙e looking at and Nordic countries. They鈥檙e really good, but I鈥檝e got a year to train and hopefully represent really well.鈥
Flexing vegan chops
Worldchefs Global Chefs鈥 vegan challenge was the first for the competition series, which includes global, pastry, and young chefs' challenges.
The vegan criteria are that the dishes 鈥渕ust exclude animal proteins, while also creatively and tastily combining key vegan ingredients.鈥
Bugher, who is not a practicing vegan, was tasked with making a high-quality plant-based meal exempt from cheese, meat, and meat substitutes.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e in a restaurant and someone wants something vegan, a lot of times you鈥檙e taking shortcuts or making something that will pass,鈥 Bugher said. 鈥淏ut for a competition like this, it has to be amazing and not just 鈥極K, that鈥檚 vegan.鈥 It has to be delicious for anybody.鈥
Bugher鈥檚 winning spread featured three courses.
The appetizer was a quinoa and avocado cake wrapped with a corn mousse.
鈥淚 made this mousse in a corn mold, froze it, then wrapped it around so it looked like a corn on a cob, basically, with avocado and The corn silk was stripped and fried and used to create a 鈥渘est鈥 on top.
鈥淔ull utilization of the product, especially in the vegan category, it鈥檚 all about sustainability,鈥 he said.
The entr茅e was based on Southern Appalachian cuisine 鈥 a rice cake with a sweet potato remoulade and a collard green hushpuppy served with a Fresno Hearts of Palm sauce.
The chef competitors were required to incorporate mango, tea, and chocolate in the dessert.
Bugher toasted coconut and made a chocolate shell formed to look like a halved coconut. He filled it with a green tea coconut cream sauce with lime-mango curd on top.
Vegan cooking tips
Bugher鈥檚 shared tips for those venturing into vegan cooking.
Latin food, like tacos and pupusas, is easy to create as it allows for the use of mushrooms, beans, which are rich in proteins, and other plant-based ingredients, he said.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 miss the meat at all in that,鈥 Bugher said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 so many toppings and fun things and flavors, the meat is not even necessary. I won鈥檛 do any faux meats or anything for that. And hot sauces are great.鈥
He also likes to make Italian food, like cacciatore, with onions and peppers. Instead of sausage, Bugher grinds up fennel to give it a 鈥渕eaty, sausagey鈥 flavor and adds red pepper flakes.
鈥淚f you didn鈥檛 know, you鈥檇 be like, 鈥極h, this tastes really meaty.鈥 But it鈥檚 not,鈥 he said.
Pizza may be prepared the same way, he said.
One technique he recommends is ideal for the summer barbecue season.
鈥淪moking foods really helps," he said. "A popular one right now is the buffalo cauliflower. If you smoke those first then do the breading, it adds a nice umami smokiness.鈥
He prefers real smoke over liquid smoke.
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