He is now going to show the audience why they will perhaps never invite him to Cologne ever again, said the two-star chef Andoni Luis Aduriz before throwing a handful of eggs into the stunned audience. For five long years, the Basque superstar had been working on his creation until - as is so often the case with the Basque superstar, not outwardly what it pretends to be - it was perfect.

With her dishes, the lively three-star chef Elena Arzak from the Basque country presented an unmistakeable sense of colour, light and feeling. She demonstrated newly created dishes to the captive audience and explained how they evolved. At the same time, she had brought along a number of ingredients from her "Laboratorio" where, together with her father Juan Mari, she stores almost 2,000 exceptional products.

Two-Star chef Massimo Buttura disclosed how he draws his inspiration from the arts and traditional Italian cuisine. He revealed to the audience that even today his mother sometimes says to him that she is the better cook and quoted the German artist Joseph Beuys: "We shall never stop planting."

The three-star chef Jonnie Boer from the Dutch town of Zwolle had joints for his visitors to the CHEF-SACHE 200 with him. A "dessert" with hemp seed and edible paper which he also likes to serve in his restaurant. In addition, the Dutchman also explained in his charming way, a method he uses to produce fermented vegetable juices.

The two-star Austrian Chef Heinz Reitbauer emphasised the cooperation with local producers thereby earning great popularity in the hall. He introduced traditional and newly cultivated foodstuffs into the alpine regions and after the show brought the audience onto the stage with him.

For the third time on the stage now and extremely popular with the audience, the three-star chef Christian Bau demonstrated how he came to find his own individual creative style. The opportunity of exchanging information at events such as the CHEF-SACHE also play a major part in developing one's own style.

The two-star chef Thomas Bühner explained to the audience how he creates new aromas and gave an account of the three hectare kitchen garden to which he has lately had access. And even if we couldn't expect an increase of his enormous spectrum of flavours, Thomas Buehner showed us how he did.

Sven Elverfeld produced bubbles using an aquarium pump and a hollow ball with small plastic balls. In the process live on stage, the three-star chef gave traditional German dishes a completely new face. The faces of the CHEF-SACHE visitors registered both surprise and fascination at the same time.

Nils Henkels plates live from the variety of vegetables. With his plea for more vegetarian dishes and a more responsible use of our limited resources, the applause he earned was clearly appreciative.