“It's so inspirational to see kids empowered by growing, harvesting and cooking healthy, delicious food. The standard in these competitions is so high.”
– Jennifer Scothern-King, Environmental Education Facilitor
Enviroschools is creating young ‘masterchefs’ as students learn to cook healthy, delicious meals from food they have grown and harvested themselves.
Waipahihi School and Tauhara Primary School, from Taupō, are two schools that have taken part in the Māra Kai Junior Chef Challenge, a Waikato Regional Council initiative inspired by the TV MasterChef series and run through the Enviroschools programme.
Each school had a team of two gardeners and two cooks, and they were given just 90 minutes to make a nutritious three-dish lunch and plate and present their dishes to the judges.
One of the dishes needed to include at least five ingredients from each team’s school vegetable garden, and they were also expected to discuss their dish and describe to the judges how the five ingredients were grown.
Environmental Education Facilitator Jennifer Scothern-King says the focus of the challenge is promoting environmentally sustainable practises for school students.
"It's so inspirational to see kids empowered by growing, harvesting and cooking healthy, delicious food. The standard in these competitions is so high – its’s amazing," Jennifer says.
Guest judge Coriander Lime Kitchen owner Katherine Froggatt-Ong first gave the children a demonstration on how to make a curried cannellini bean dip with tahini and sriracha for carrot and celery sticks. The healthy snack was promptly eaten by the competitors.
They also quickly picked up on Katherine's tip for measuring ingredients, 'agak agak', which means 'no need to measure, just use a drizzle or a pinch' of the ingredient in Bahasa Malaysia.
Then it was the students' turn.
Olliver Nicholson, Jayden Arderne, Harleigh Paletau and Emily Forrest (team Wapahihi) and Harlem Hallet-Dunster, Amara Leaf, Piper Quinn and Jessica Rakei (team Tauhara) say they enjoyed the learning experience and working as a team.
Between them, their dishes included gnocchi matched with a tomato and herb sauce, a spinach and silverbeet quiche, a green salad of spring onions, mint, chives and parsley, and a beetroot feta and pear salad. Dessert was a fresh fruit smoothie and a pear and apple crumble.
The fresh produce was scored for choice, appearance and taste, and the chefs were scored for organisation, recipe choice, nutritional value, and presentation. Teams were also judged for their gardening knowledge and team spirit.
Peeling the beetroot was challenging, making and eating the dessert was a highlight, and Harleigh even went home and made gnocchi for himself for dinner.
Waipahihi School won the challenge, but Jennifer says the teams were very closely matched.
There were prizes for both teams, including gardening equipment, plants, gardening diaries, bookmarks and a cookbook.