IF you haven’t turned your mind to pork and Hospitality magazine’s PorkStars competition now is the time to do it.

The July 9 closing date for the “Be a PorkStar” competition that we’re running in conjunction with Australian Pork to celebrate the momentous Year of the Pig is now just a week away.

So if you lust after crispy crackling and dream of lip smacking pork hocks and salivate at the thought of frenched pork cutlets, char sui BBQ pork, pork sausages, suckling pig, or melt in your mouth pork belly then don’t dally.

We are looking for Australia’s most passionate pork devotee working in the Australian hospitality industry.

The winner will get to feature as a "PorkStar" later this year as part of Australian Pork's magazine advertisements in its sexy PorkStar campaign that's taking the pork message to foodservice.

The winner will join a stellar cast of high profile Australian chefs and foodservice personalities who have starred in the campaign since it launched last year. They'll be photographed at their workplace by acclaimed photographer Chris Von Menge. Hospitality industry stars already snapped by Von Menge for the PorkStar campaign include chefs like Melbourne restaurant La Luna's Adrian Richardson and Sydney restaurant Red Lantern's Luke Nguyen, the President of the Australian Culinary Federation Peter Wright, culinary Olympian Glenn Austin, and Sydney restaurant La Sala's front of house maestro Andrea Mellas. The latest new culinary star to be added to the list is up and comer, Amanda Edwards, young sous chef at Adelaide's Stamford Grand Hotel.

The competition's open to anyone in the hospitality industry. All you have to do is tell us how Pork makes you a Star, and also send us one of your own favourite pork recipes. On the judging panel we'll have Adrian Richardson and Luke Nguyen, as well as Australian Pork marketing manager, David Mogford, and Hospitality editor, Rosemary Ryan.

Australian Pork's David Mogford said that in choosing a winner the judges would be looking for someone in foodservice who has a clear passion for Pork and its potential.

Mogford said pork was an "inspiration for Australian menus". "There is so much choice: the range of brands, of cuts and meal ideas, the versatility of flavours, from classic to contemporary, from West to East, from the Coast to the Bush," he said.

"This competition with Hospitality magazine is a chance for someone in foodservice to enjoy the spotlight with Pork".

If you reckon you could be the next PorkStar just click here to enter. For more information on pork and the great opportunities it presents for food service head to http://www.pork.com.au/foodservice. To enter click here http://www.hospitalitymagazine.com.au/porkstarentry.asp