Is judging chefs' competitions all it's cracked up to be? Kitchen judge Chef Arnold Tanzer of the Sunday Times Food Awards in association with Foodcorp spills the beans

Is it fun? It's a question I am often asked, because I am a food judge. And since Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, George Calombaris and others of their class can't possibly judge every food competition, it might as well be me.

Okay, I have a fair set of credentials - one being that I was the winner of this competition in 2008 - so in theory I know my way around a kitchen.

This year, once again, I am honoured to be in the kitchen, judging the competitors on their work skills before they put the food on the plate and send it out to the tasting judges.

That's the pleasure and the pain of being on the tasting panel - generally they get to eat all the best food from South Africa's top chefs, but by the end of the day, they don't want to look at another plate!

I'm excluded from tasting. My place is in the kitchen, an hour or so before the contestants get there, ensuring that the mystery baskets are ready, that the equipment works, the medical-aid kit has plasters (you won't believe how many top chefs cut their fingers under pressure). My time is spent seeing all the little mistakes pile up - and all I want to do is step in and rectify them. But I can't.

I walk around the kitchen with a clipboard looking important, scribbling notes and generally eyeballing the contestants as they sweat away, furiously chopping, whisking, baking, searing, roasting, sautéing and slicing their way through the mystery basket of ingredients to produce fine cuisine.

It's my job to judge everything from knife skills, use of ingredients, wastage, hygiene, cooking techniques and timing, and I run around calming the contestants down and managing the kitchen.

In theory, being the kitchen judge should be hell - you don't get to taste the food, you are locked into the kitchen for the whole day, you spend the day acting as the authoritative draconian chef you wish you were, and the intimidated chefs do their best to ignore you. The reality is that it is great fun and - by the way - I know who wins way before anyone else does!

Contestants must show the highest level of skill in technique and result, not overcomplicating the dishes, being organised in work method and hygiene. Those who plan and practise will succeed.

. For information regarding all four categories of the Sunday Times Food Awards - Sunday Times Chef of the Year, Sunday Times Young Chef of the Year, Sunday Times Stalwart of the Kitchen and Sunday Times Chef School Challenge, visit www.sundaytimesfoodawards.co.za