Culinary challenge lifts profile of VET in Schools

The first Murray River Culinary Challenge has been so successful that organisers are already planning for this year’s event. Besides identifying two winning chefs, the challenge:

• enhanced links between schools and students and the hospitality and tourism industries
• lifted the profile of Vet in Schools
• promoted regions along the Murray
• showcased local produce.

Based on a three-tier cook-off, the challenge involved VET hospitality students from 20 schools along the Murray River from Yarrawonga to Mildura and Shepparton to Finley.

At school level, students competed individually. The two best cooks from each school then competed in pairs at the district finals.

The district finals—conducted in Shepparton, Cobram/Barooga, Echuca, Swan Hill and Mildura—were judged by prominent local chefs who provided valuable feedback. District winners progressed to the regional final at the Bendigo Regional Institute of TAFE in Echuca. Competitors there had their meals judged by a panel of celebrity judges who evaluated taste, presentation, time management, hygiene and cleanliness.

Competition menus focused on fresh regional produce, for example asparagus from Sunraysia and gourmet hydroponic lettuces from Echuca, the quality of which one celebrity judge ‘had never seen before’.

Final winners were Mildura Senior College students, Claire Moser and Nathan Telser, who said, ‘The whole experience of this competition has enhanced my personal skills and abilities dramatically.’ The winning team received a Murray River red gum perpetual trophy and individual books.

Another by-product of the challenge will be a DVD of the event being produced by VET multimedia students from Rochester as a structured work placement. When completed, the DVD will be made available to all interested Local Community Partnerships in Australia.

The challenge was an Adopt a School project developed by four Local Community Partnerships—Mildura, Careers Connection, Southern Riverina Plains, and Murray Mallee Local Learning and Employment Network—as well as local hospitality and tourism industries, produce growers and training organisations. They all were delighted with the success of the project and thought the outcomes surpassed expectations.