Austrian chefs battered in European poll

Austrian chefs have been listed among the worst in Europe in a new survey.Chefs working at restaurants and hotels in the Alpine country only garnered three per cent of the votes handed in by 10,500 participants in the poll by internationally operating travel ratings platform Zoover.Only British, Swedish and Portuguese cooks did worse, while Italians came first with 24 per cent ahead of Spanish chefs (14 per cent) and their French counterparts (13 per cent).Zoover said detailed figures have shown that Swiss and German holidaymakers named Austrian chefs as their favourites, adding that they also topped the poll among Austrian participants.Austrian cuisine is famed for Wiener schnitzel, apple strudel and other hearty delicacies.The European study comes shortly after Austrians named schnitzel as their favourite dish ahead of Cordon Bleu and fried chicken.Managers of gastronomy website Netkellner, who registered 26,000 participants, said last month traditional Fritatten soup was Austrians’ most popular soup. They added Kaiserschmarren, a sweet Austrian dish of sugared pancakes, was people’s top dessertAward-winning chef Helmut Österreicher said he was a “little surprised” by the results of the study. “Austrian cuisine is generally very popular. It just has to be reinterpreted and newly composed once in a while,” he explained.