Cooking to win at the Young Chef and Young Baker competitions
Young chefs from all over the country gathered at the Westville International Hotel School to compete for the Young Baker competition.
RCL FOODS hosted the Young Chef and Young Baker competitions that saw aspiring chiefs gunning for the cash prize of R110 000. The Young Baker competition was held at the International Hotel School in Westville while the Young Chef was held in Capsicum Culinary School in Umhlanga. Chef Brad Kavanagh, head chef of RCL Foods, said that at the heart of these two competitions is RCL’s passion for nurturing and investing in young chefs and bakers, upskilling them in their chosen culinary disciplines.
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“RCL Foods is partnering with various organisations to ensure that the maximum amount of value can be added to the youngsters’ culinary careers. The SA Chefs and the SA Bakers Association are running the competition, with Chef Adrian Vigus Brown, SA Chefs’ competition director, as the overall head judge.
“We kept in touch with the entrants throughout the stages of the competitions and held webinars for them, explaining the expectations, helping them to be as competition-ready as possible, and making sure they put their best foot forward in the competition,” he said. He emphasised that South African Chefs managed the competition entries and ensured that each one was scored professionally, and that the judges’ notes and feedback were made available to the entrants if they wanted them to evaluate their performance and possibly consider making changes to help them stay on top of their game.
“RCL Foods is the perfect host for both the Young Chef and Young Baker competitions because a large proportion of the group’s basket of brands and products are staples in professional kitchens. The RCL Foods range includes various prominent household brands,” said Kavanagh.
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Winners were announced at the awards evening on Thursday, October 13 at Coastlands Umhlanga. The first price went to Simthandile Nomandla from FBI Chef School and Patisserie Academy in Gauteng, who took home the top prize of R20 000. Second place went to Ameera Gani from Chefs Training and Innovation Academy in Centurion, Gauteng, who won R15 000. Third place was Lynette Spykerman from 1000 Hills Chefs School in KZN, winning R10 000.
Winners of the Young Chefs competition held at Capsicum Culinary School Umhlanga, which was a team challenge, were Nicole Bowes and Matthew Maree from Silwood School of Cookery in Western Cape, who achieved over 90% in the finals and won R15 000 each. The Young Chef silver winners were Matthew Van Heerden and Shanuel Zimba from 1000 Hills Chef School in KZN who each won R10 000. The bronze winners were Kelly Fletcher and Kara Venter from Silwood School of Cookery in Western Cape, who won R7 500 each.
