Ara Home To Culinary Creativity For The Ara Cookery And Bakery Competition 2021
This Monday, June 21, the 2021 Ara Cookery and Bakery competition was in full flight at Ara’s City campus.
A collaboration between Ara, high schools and key stakeholders within the food and hospitality industry, this prestigious annual event is designed to lift the aspirations and inspirations of culinary creators.
The competition features live and static kitchen events during which 74 participants competed in 20 food categories which included salmon benedict, poke bowls, filled eclairs and three ‘mystery box’ challenges. High school students, trainee chefs and others from all levels of the hospitality industry feverishly worked to craft their most to-die-for dishes, as spectators from the general public looked on.
Entrants are encouraged to challenge themselves beyond the routines of their day-to-day work or training, and the competition adds the kind of additional pressure that can spur entrants on to greater achievement as they are forced to put all of their skills efficiently to use.
Stuart Goodall, Ara chef tutor and competition organiser, said in 2019 that taking part in the competition aids students’ chances of getting noticed by industry professionals.
“Having on your CV that you competed and won goes a long, long way. A lot of industry (employers) snap up our students because of that.”
Ryan Marshall, Manager of the Cookery and Bakery department at Ara, had a keen appreciation of the hard work demanded of the participants.
“I respect everyone who competed because it means putting yourself outside your comfort zone and pushing yourself. It’s not until you actually push yourself to those limits that you get to see how far you can go and for some people receiving medals, tonight is the start of an incredible journey. And no matter what you achieve, you always learn something.”
Ara students as a group were well-represented amongst the winners, gaining a total of 25 medals across the day, including Victoria Gibb with her Gold Medal for Cup Cake Decorating, Maximillian Mayell with a Silver Medal (highest place) for the Salmon entrée mystery box and Anshul Gurung with a Gold Medal gained for an outstanding Vegetarian Curry.
One highlight of the day is the National Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge, open to year 12 and 13 high school students only. This yearly event gives students the opportunity to compete at a regional level by preparing, cooking and presenting two individually-plated portions of an entrée course within 60 minutes. The winner from each region is required to form a team of two and then impress the judges at the NSSCC Grand Final, held this year on the 8th of September.
Monday’s winner was Meghan Foster, a student from Mount Hutt College, who gained a Silver medal.
Fresh from his stint at Ara judging the recent Nestle Golden Hat competition, Darren Wright, formerly of notable Christchurch restaurant Chillingworth Road, was on hand to assess these competitors’ work skills and competitiveness, guided by New Zealand Hospitality Championships standards and criteria. Darren is himself an Ara (CPIT) graduate, having begun his cooking career as a kitchen hand in Akaroa before beginning his training in Christchurch.