College Culinary Competition Opportunity for Aspiring Chefs

College Culinary Competition Opportunity for Aspiring Chefs

Aspiring young chefs from around New Zealand will be sharpening their knives in a bid to impress some of country’s most successful chefs and win a place in the country’s premier secondary schools student culinary competition.

The National Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge (NSSCC) is kicking off with ten regional competitions taking place between mid-May and July. The winning teams from each of the regional finals will battle it out in the grand final in Auckland on 30th August.

Teams of two year 12 or 13 culinary students go head-to-head in a live kitchen cook off to produce four portions of entrée and main meals in just 90 minutes. The overall national winning team will then fly to Sydney to compete in the International Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge (ISSCC).

Highly respected chef and head judge, Mark Wylie, said the competition represents a once in a lifetime opportunity for students who want to enter the hospitality industry.

“Aspiring cooks will be preparing their meals for some of the country’s top chefs and who knows what can happen when you impress one of them. Over the past three years many of the students have been offered apprenticeships within the hospitality industry.

“The competition showcases what happens when you combine some of our best up and coming talent with quality New Zealand produce,” says Mr Wylie.

Students will be scored across a number of areas including food preparation, hygiene, presentation, taste and use of New Zealand chicken and fresh NZ grown vegetables and potatoes.

Joining Mr Wylie on the judging panel are:

• Jeremy Schmid – Author and owner/chef at The Officers Mess wedding and function centre on Auckland’s North Shore;
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• Ben Bayly – My Kitchen Rules judge and Head Chef at both The Grove and Baduzzi in Auckland;
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• Tom Hishon – Chef, Orphans Kitchen, 2016 Best Chef in the Metro Peugeot Restaurant of the Year Awards announced in April;
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• Craig Lucas – Lecturer, Manukau Institute of Technology;
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• John Kelleher – Senior lecturer, Professional Cookery, AUT University Senior Lecturer.

Mr Wylie will also mentor the winning NSSCC team for the ISSCC in Australia.

Each of the ten regions’ winning teams will receive a $500 Bidvest voucher, a chef's jacket for the final, a $200 Southern Hospitality voucher and travel assistance to get to Auckland to compete at the Final.

The National winners will each receive a $1000 gift pack from vegetables.co.nz and City & Guilds and a $2000 scholarship towards their study of a City & Guilds International Catering Qualification, in a City & Guilds approved training centre of their choice.

The winning school will receive a $1,000 voucher from Bidvest, a ANOVA Precision Cooker and a Blue Seal Evolution Series G504D - 600mm Gas Range Static Oven worth $7,000.

This year’s NSSCC winners and their teacher will be flown to Sydney to compete in the ISSCC with flights and accommodation valued at over $4000 provided.

The total prize package is worth over $17,000.

Below is the timetable for the regional competitions and spectators are very welcome.
REGION EVENT LOCATION DATE
Northland NZ Chef Northland Salon NORTHTEC 12th June 2016
Auckland NSSCC Event x 2 MIT 5th July 2016
Waikato/BOP Waikato Culinary Fare WINTEC 8th July 2016
Hawkes Bay NZ Chef HB Salon EIT 15th May 2016
Taranaki NZ Chef Taranaki Salon WITT 13th June 2016
Wellington NZ Chef Wellington Salon WELTEC 21st May 2016
Canterbury NSSCC Event CPIT 14th June 2016
Tasman NSSCC Event CPIT 14th June 2016
Southland Southern Lights Otago Polytechnic – Cromwell 21st May 2016

NSSCC is run by the New Zealand Culinary Arts Development Trust and sponsored by City & Guilds, vegetables.co.nz, 5+aDay, NZ Chicken, CaterPlus, Blue Seal, Potatoes NZ and Southern Hospitality.

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