Culinary delights impress judges

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Culinary delights impress judges

Students studying Professional Cookery at Whitireia scooped a number of awards at the 2011 Wellington Culinary Fare held as part of the Wellington Food show last weekend.

Six talented students entered the live cookery competition run by the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Chefs Association and all six walked away with medals. We are extremely proud of these students said Sonya Martin, Tutor in Professional Cookery at Whitireia. “Their hard work and dedication has paid off and they have been rewarded for all the hours of training they have put in” she said. The students were encouraged to put together individual and unique dishes, something that the tutors at Whitireia encourage all Professional Cookery students to do. “It’s all about what they like and their style” said Sonya.

First up on the floor at the competition were Danny Poulter and Thomas McBride in the Meadow Mushrooms Superb Soup event. These two students made fantastic dishes that impressed the judges and resulted in them both being awarded silver medals for their unique and extremely delicious looking culinary delights. Danny also picked up a Bronze medal in Food from the Sea, an open event.
Edit Vary-Dollinger captivated the judge’s taste buds with her entry in the Innovative Fresh Fruit Flan event and was awarded a well deserved gold medal and “Best of Class”. Team mate Chad Williams brought home a silver medal in this event also.

Bawi Tin Thang presented a silver medal winning Chicken brunch dish and Michael Gunn managed to take home a silver medal in the Pasta class. Michael also earned a bronze medal for the two days of competing in the Hans Bueschkens Young Chefs Challenge.

In each of the competition categories the students all had an hour to prepare and produce their dish, plate it up and present it to the judges for scoring.
Whitireia Professional Cookery staff were involved in the competitions also. They put their culinary expertise to the test and their judging hats on and acted as official judges for three of the live cooking event competitions. “It’s great to be involved and have the opportunity to see the great up and coming culinary talent in our midst” said John Hancock, Tutor in Professional Cookery.

With the competitions now behind them, the Whitireia Professional Cookery students are straight back to campus and are now working towards obtaining their City and Guilds qualifications, with their exams being this week.
The Professional Cookery course at Whitireia covers all aspects of working in a professional kitchen and students gain two internationally recognised City and Guilds qualifications while having the opportunity to undertake work experience. For more information go to www.whitireia.co.nz

ENDS