WHS slices up the competition

Two students from Wanganui High School have won a Bronze medal in the Final of the National Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge (NSSCC).

Year 12 students, Olivia Caird (middle right) and Charlotte Taylor (middle left), went head to head with eight other regional teams in a high pressure live 90 minute kitchen cook off at Manukau Institute of Technology’s Culinary School in Auckland.

Charlotte said she is passionate about working in the industry and becoming a chef.

“The whole experience has been wonderful and reinforces my goal to be a chef. It challenged us in many different ways from honing our culinary skills through to time and stress management.”

Her team mate, Olivia, said the months of juggling commitments to put in the hours of practice needed paid off.

“For months we have been refining our dishes and practicing and to get to the Final and compete against the top schools in the country was a real thrill and we look forward to doing it again next year.”

Head of Department – Food, Nutrition and Hospitality at Wanganui High School, Linda Hardcastle, said as first time entrants into the world of competitive cooking this had been a very steep learning curve.

“We have all learned a huge amount and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. The competition really reflected the reality of working as a chef and both girls have been fired with enthusiasm to compete again next year.”

The team had to produce four portions of entrée and main meals in just 90 minutes. The dishes had to include New Zealand produced vegetables and chicken, with Silverbeet being the hero vegetable.

St John’s College, Hawkes Bay took out the top spot and gold medal.

Courtesy of River City Press