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19 October 2011
Aspiring chefs from the East of England received tuition from a top restaurant chef after winning a cooking contest with a difference - by preparing mouth-wateringly good packed lunches!
Students from Dereham Neatherd High School in East Dereham and members of The Sparx Youth Project in Peterborough fought off 25 competing teams to win this year’s Schools Food Challenge at the 2011 East of England Show, held at the Peterborough showground.
The challenge was to create a healthy school lunchbox that met the national school food standards and made use of locally sourced ingredients, all with only 45 minutes preparation time.
Dishes from the winning menus included pea and ham soup, spaghetti bolognaise, stone-baked pizza, berry smoothie and banana flapjacks.
The winning teams were invited to the prestigious Royal Automobile Club in London to meet Executive Head Chef Philip Corrick, where they experienced a day in a professional kitchen, cooking with Phillip and his team.
Phillip Corrick said, “This competition has given these young people a great introduction to cooking high quality food under time pressure, and I hope that their visit to the Royal Automobile Club has inspired them to become the top chefs of the future.”
Now in its 16th year, the Schools Food Challenge is sponsored by the East of England Agricultural Society and organised by East of England School FEAST, which has a purpose built training kitchen at the showground and promotes the use of local produce.
Sandra Lauridsen of East of England Agricultural society, School FEAST coordinator said: “The annual Schools Food Challenge is a really exciting opportunity for students to enhance their catering knowledge and get their cooking skills recognised. Every year I’m amazed by the hard work and enthusiasm of all the teams that take part, they produce fantastic food in a very short amount of time and this year’s healthy lunchbox challenge was no exception.”
The competition is open to secondary schools and The Prince’s Trust XL clubs, a personal development programme aimed at young people aged 13-19 at risk of underachievement or exclusion from school, of which winning club, The Sparx Youth Project, is a member. Project Manager, Mark Budner said: "We are about helping young people to discover their gifts and talents and to find ways to develop them. This competition is a great example; in less than a year we have seen the girls go from not really being able to cook, to cooking in the final in front of 200 people."
The annual competition promotes food nutrition and develops culinary skills, encourages the use of British and locally sourced produce and gives students the chance to take part in a live cooking event at the East of England Show.
A brand new Schools Food Challenge will take place at next year’s East of England Show, 6-8 July 2012.
