Pressure on for young culinary contenders

Professional cookery students in the Wintec training kitchens.

More than 300 young people will compete at the 2009 Waikato Culinary Fare held at Wintec’s Centre for Hospitality Avalon Campus on Thursday 2nd July and Friday 3rd July.

Wintec is hosting the annual event for the third year in association with the NZ Restaurant Association.

The competition is open to secondary school students and junior hospitality kitchen and restaurant workers who have a passion for the hospitality industry.

Top achievers will go forward to compete at the National Culinary Fare to be held in Auckland later this year.

Wintec Hospitality tutor Peter Radojkovich said the event provided an excellent opportunity for the institute’s state-of-the-art facilities to be put to use by secondary school students, tertiary students and young industry professionals during the prestigious culinary competitions.

He said entries were significantly up on previous years. The two day competition will be judged by industry professionals including visiting tutors from other training providers, the NZ Army and Navy.

“The competition calls for huge effort and nerve as contenders pit their skills, innovation and creativity against each other, in front of judges and within tight time constraints. It’s a an extremely challenging event,” Mr Radojkovich­ said.