[Sichuan beef tendons. Photograph: Robyn Lee]

Grab your chopsticks: The International Chinese Culinary Competition will be held in New York from Sunday, September 20 through the 22nd. Expect top Chinese chefs from all over the world; preliminaries for Asian competitors have already been held in Taiwan, and North American entrants will have theirs on Sunday, the 20th, before the finals on Monday the 21st.

Contestants will compete in one of five culinary divisions—Cantonese, Huaiyang, Sichuan, Shandong, and Northeastern Chinese—and prepare traditional dishes from that region: Shandong scallion-braised sea-cucumber, say, or Huaiyang squirrel fish. Judges will select the winner that day.

Where do you come in? $40 gets admission and a few plates of regional fare; $90 tickets let you join in on the five-hour official tasting afterwards, eating the same plates the judges do. But the real ticket might be the semi-formal banquet on the last night—a 10-course dinner showcasing all five cuisines (with wine pairings!), all cooked by the winning chefs. Tickets and more info here.