VIKTORIJA BAŠIĆ – The first winner of the Mediterranean Women Chefs scholarship
Viktorija Bašić is 16 and a half years old and, in accordance with her name, she is a winner! Viktorija got the first scholarship awarded by the Mediterranean Women Chefs for the professional training of a young talented future chef or sommelier in a renowned international or Croatian restaurant or hotel. Viktorija is an excellent
Viktorija Bašić is 16 and a half years old and, in accordance with her name, she is a winner! Viktorija got the first scholarship awarded by the Mediterranean Women Chefs for the professional training of a young talented future chef or sommelier in a renowned international or Croatian restaurant or hotel. Viktorija is an excellent student of the final year of cooking classes at the Oliva Allegra secondary school, the Wallner private school in Split. Humble, hard-working, in love with the cooking profession, Viktorija has shown that with persistent work and passion for what you do, even unimaginable dreams can come true.
The award was presented to her on November 15th evening at the gala dinner of this year’s conference Redefining Success powered by Fortenova Group. Next spring, Viktorija Bašić is going to France, more specifically to Provence, where she will intern for one month with chef Michel Basaldella. His restaurant Le Grand Puech, in the town of Mimet, is known for its culinary philosophy that advocates for the sustainability of the terroir in which it operates and for a healthy diet.
Viktorija Bašić, Mediterranean Women Chefs scholarship holder and manager Frano Ridjan. Photo by Goran Jakuš
“Cuisine and health are connected. That’s the future. If we eat healthy products, then nature will also be healthy”. An Italian born in Switzerland, Chef Basaldella grew up in Italy, on a family organic farm, but soon began a rich international career. He worked in the restaurants of some of the world’s best hotels, such as Danieli in Venice and the Hyde Park Hotel in London, and he also worked in Bahrain, Moscow, Berlin and Rome before arriving in France, in Paris. There he worked for two years at Hotel Castille, alongside the famous chef Alain Ducasse, who invited him in 2015 to be a chef instructor at his cooking school in Paris.
“The experience with Alain Ducasse brought me to the peak of my culinary education, a combination of passion, simplicity and finesse”. Since 2010, Michel has been living with his family in a small town in Provence where he also started a cooking school. He is a member of the Gourméditerranée association, which brings together the best chefs from the south of France. During her stay in Mimet, Viktorija will have the opportunity to visit the best cheese producer in Aix-en-Provence and several local winemakers. Under the expert guidance of Chef Basaldella, she will learn more about the preparation of fresh pasta and pasta “trafilata al bronzo”, the preparation of pastries, bread, focaccia, breadsticks, the spoon desserts, the Italian appetizers, the French sauces and the preparation of various French and Italian recipes. Her stay will end with a dinner in a restaurant crowned with Michelin stars so that she will bring home the impressions of a unique experience of high French gastronomy.
The funds for this additional education of the young talented girl were collected at last year’s Redefining Success conference and dinner, with Leonora Espinosa, World’s Best Female Chef 2022 as the guest of honour and the keynote speaker. We searched for an ideal candidate for a year and found her in Viktorija Bašić, who, at the beginning of October, was one of the winners of the competition of young culinary talents at the Festival Taste the Mediterranean in Split.
Dedicated to gender equality, the conference Redefining Success powered by Fortenova Group is intended for women, but not only for them, and its goal is to present successful women, i.e. to show how women in high positions can influence changes in their work environment and in society in general. The participants of the conference are women, top professionals, who, with their inspiring stories, want to encourage others, especially young women, to believe in themselves and their abilities and to fight for their dreams. In addition to the conference, this year again we have organised a fund raising dinner to collect funds for the professional training of another “Viktorija”.
https://chef-m.com/en/autobiography/
