English chef suspects sabotage after finishing last at pizza world cup

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An English chef has come last in the Pizza World Championship in Italy, and suspects that his olive oil going missing may not have been an accident.

Danny Child, a 31-year-old chef from Norfolk, suspected foul play when he went up against a global who’s who of pizza makers at the annual championship in Parma earlier this year.

He was forced to rely on a journalist to persuade a salesman at the fair to decant some oil into a tub for him to use minutes before the start of the competition, the Financial Times reported.

When he arrived at the prep kitchen, he put his ingredients in a fridge but left the oil out on the counter, only to find later on that it had vanished.

But the mystery of the missing oil was among a long list of mishaps for the former electrician, who quit his trade during the Covid-19 pandemic to start a pizzeria.

The oven wasn’t hot enough, he didn’t have a basic wooden paddle to ladle his topping onto the dough, and he wore black instead of chefs’ whites which meant he had to present his pizza to the jury in flour-stained jeans.

Despite being surrounded by Italian pizza masters who learnt their technique growing up in family restaurants, Mr Child decided to experiment with a new recipe when he arrived at the venue.

“For some reason, I decided to completely change my pizza when I got there,” he wrote after the event. “I used a local beer in my dough and a local honey to finish, which I don’t think the Italian judges appreciated.”

To top it all off, the base of the pizza was soft and doughy.

Out of 429 competitors, Mr Child finished in last place.

Responding to the result, he said: “I’m gutted.”

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