When John McFadden gave up a promising career as an NRL player aged 14, his parents Bob and Bernice never imagined he would be crowned World Food Champion, but they were determined to support him to pursue his dreams.
“Because there wasn’t that much money in footy at the time, I needed to choose a career, so I missed out on a two-year scholarship with Balmain as a junior,”
John said. John decided to become a chef and started as a kitchen hand at a restaurant at Long Jetty on the Central Coast called Dominic’s Manor, which evolved to Not Just Pizza’s when former Parramatta NRL player Paul Taylor purchased the business, then changed to Flash’s Tavern.
This was the first time the family got an indication of his talents. “Dominic came to me and said, ‘the kid’s a natural’,” Bob said.
From there John started an apprenticeship at the Lantern Palace Chinese Restaurant at Wamberal, which he finished under Bruno, who was the executive sous Chef at La Mer restaurant at Peppers on Sea Terrigal resort, when he was 19.
“Bruno took on the executive chef’s role at the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne and he asked me, once I was qualified, to come and join his team,” John said.
Once he had established his name as a top chef at The Windsor, Mr McFadden said John worked at the Fairmont Resort at Leura, then he went to Hayman Island, then the ANA Hotel (now the Shangri-La) followed by being head chef at the Hyatt Regency Zu Bistro, then he worked for catering company Trippis White for 10 years.
When Bob and Bernice moved from the Central Coast to Iluka to retire, they continued to watch their son’s career progress where he was head chef at Pittwater RSL, then he consulted for Pan Pacific Hotel Group for two years, followed by a stint with Lebanese restaurant group Al Aseel, then another two years in fruit and vegetable providores before he became National Business Development Manager at digital food safety company Squizify.
Despite his parents move to Iluka, John regularly visits from Sydney.
“He comes and visits us all the time, he loves it up here,” Bob said.
“I love it up there at Iluka, there’s great flathead up there on the Clarence River,” John said.
“I love going up there and going out fishing and Iluka is a lovely small little town that’s a nice little getaway.”
In May 2022, John won the Australian Food Championship in Sydney in the seafood category with his signature dish Prawn and Snapper Ravioli with Pea Puree, Prawn Butter and Yarra Valley Smoked Caviar, securing him a ‘golden ticket’ to the World Food Championship in the USA.
Then in November 2022, John competed in the World Food Championship in Dallas where he won the seafood category, was crowned World Seafood Champion and earned a spot in the major final in May 2023.
With Mr and Mrs McFadden watching live online, on May 22, John competed in the major final held in Arkansas.
“The top 10 category winners went head-to-head in elimination challenges,” John said.
Cooking solo against teams of three on the first day of competition, John said he made it into the top five, who went to chef Raphael Rios Yeyo’s Mexican Restaurant on the first evening where they tried a dish then were challenged to replicate it the following day without a recipe.
“I made it into the top three and the final challenge was to cook courses three and four of a tasting menu, five dishes of each, so we had to present 10 dishes in 60 minutes,” John said.
“I walked away 12 points ahead of second place as the winner which was huge.
“It was pretty surreal to come all this way from Australia to compete against the Americans on their own turf and soil, I was just blown away.
“It took months of research and months of practice and to go over there and do it alone was a huge achievement, I’m very proud of the outcome, it’s monumental and I’m still trying to absorb it all.”
For his win John was crowned World Food Champion and won $100,000 USD which he said will be used to take his family on a summer holiday and to visit his wife’s family in the UK.
This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 14 June 2023.
