Hospitality students taste silver success in Hamilton

First year students from Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s hospitality course picked up four medals at the 2012 Waikato Culinary Fare over the weekend.

Now in its eighth year the event was hosted at Wintec’s Avalon Campus and attracted entries from around the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions. Billed as a unique opportunity for both secondary school students and junior hospitality people working in the kitchen and restaurant areas, the event provided an ideal forum for young people with a passion for hospitality to display their skills, innovation and creativity.

Aspiring first year chef Jane Broderick started with picking up a silver medal on the first day of competition with her chicken dish. This provided just the inspiration her classmates needed and three more silver medals were picked up on the second day of the competition with Anna Farrell’s salmon dish and lamb dishes by Hemi Le Noel and Laura Settle.

“The competition was pretty frantic, I had to take a deep breath, re-focus and let my training and all my hard preparation work kick in,” said student Laura Settle. “I’m so stoked with my medal; this event has given me more confidence and skills to be a better chef.”

Hospitality tutor Lee Pearce was on hand to witness his student’s winning dishes. “I’m really happy with the students’ overall performance; they have worked really hard and deserve their medals,” said Lee. “This competition is the benchmark for our new aspiring chefs and is the starting point for bigger things to come.”