August 30, 2007
By Lesego Madumo
THIRTY junior chefs will battle it out on the culinary stage during the semi-final of the McCain Junior Chef of the Year competition.
The young cooks, aged 11 to 13, will converge on Roodepoort's Clearwater Mall on Saturday, 1 September. The competition kicks off at 8.30am. The rules require that at least one McCain product, costing less than R60, must be used in their recipes.
Five cookery stations will be set up in the mall's food court, and each of the contestants will be given an hour to heat up, grill or roast; their efforts will be watched by judges, guests, shoppers and, of course, parents.
The dishes will be judged on originality; chef's technique in handling cooking equipment; the guise and flavour of the food; chef's knowledge of mixing ingredients and recipes; and on presentation.
Of these, 10 junior chefs will qualify for the competition final, to be held at the HTA School of Culinary Art in Randburg on 15 September - giving them only two weeks to perfect their lip-smacking recipes.
At the final, the McCain Junior Chef of the Year will take home R3 000; the second placed chef will receive R2 000 while the third will get R1 000. The winner will also get R1 000 for his or her school and R1 000 will go to the teacher who facilitated the entry. McCain gift hampers are part of the prize.
Sponsored by McCain Foods South Africa, the competition was last held in Joburg in 2004. The food group is hoping to turn it into an annual event.
"McCain is definitely planning to host the event next year and, dependent on the success of the event this year, [we] will make a decision on a venue for next year's competition," says Chanel Kruger, the assistant product manager for retail vegetables at McCain and the competition's organiser.
Kruger believes that the day will be full of fun. "Apart from that, parents will be able to pick up lots of ideas on nutritious meals to feed their kids."
Hundreds of recipes were received from primary school entrants across Gauteng. Of these, only 30 qualified for the semi-final; the selected few were required to present an original recipe using at least one McCain product costing less than R60.
"They also had to give their dish a super-cool name," Kruger says. The recipes had to sound delicious and original, to catch the attention of the judges, who are accredited by the South African Chefs Association.
Kruger believes that through this competition, children learn the importance of eating vegetables. It will also "lead them to prepare and eat more healthy, nutritious meals in years to come, benefiting their present vitality and future health".
It gives them career options too: "Children these days are deciding at a much earlier time in their lives on what they would like to do in the future; the McCain Tribute to Good Taste gives them a taste at what fun a career as a chef can be."
The McCain Junior Chef of the Year semi-final is being held at Clearwater Mall in Roodepoort on Saturday, 1 September, from 8.30am. Penelopea the Pea will be on hand, handing out McCain products. For more information call Jené Godfrey at McCain on 011 672 2037 or 082 459 8553, or email her on jene@stratpr.co.za.
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