Young chefs impress
Aspiring young chefs of Sigatoka Andhra College putting together their best recipe. Photo: Courtesy of OUTRIGGER ON THE LAGOON FIJI
By LITIA MATHEWSELL
A culinary competition at Sigatoka Andhra College has drawn praise for the level of talents exposed at its school’s Chefs’ Challenge yesterday.
The competition was held in partnership with the Outrigger on the Lagoon Fiji resort, which saw 80 students of the school take to the counter in a series of cooking and food preparation competitions.
Although only 10 per cent of competitors were home economic students, all seemed like seasoned chefs when they whipped up an assortment of meals like chicken fajita, spicy mahimahi and prawns and chicken linguine.
Outrigger resort executive chef and president of the Fiji Chefs Association Shailesh Naidu said the talent on show was mind-blowing.
“This is the stuff seen on hotel menus. These children are still in high school but could easily give those in the Moffat National Salon Culinaire a run for their money,” Mr Naidu said.
He hopes the initiative would open doors for other partnerships between resorts and schools and widen the public interest in culinary.
The school’s home economics head of department (HOD), Arishma Mistry, said the students had been preparing for the competition three months back and surprisingly attracted a lot of interest from a host of non-home economic students.
“Many students may be academically challenged but our school also encourages a skill-based environment,” Ms Mistry said.
“This competition is the first of its kind for us and it gives the students great exposure.”
The competition required students to prepare eggs, chicken, vegetarian and seafood dishes, with a cake-decoration division.
With three winners from each category, a group of resort chefs will be dispatched to mentor them ahead of the final cook-off scheduled at a later date.
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