How to pack a kitchen on a plane
Travelling to the National Final can be a logistical nightmare, with teams having to work out how to load half the
schools home economics kitchen into crates and get them on a plane. I bet there will be a few tense moments waiting at
the conveyer belt in Auckland to see if their gear has made it and if anything has been broken.
This year’s National Secondary School Culinary Competition (NSSCC) has seen 8 regional finals across the country. New
Zealand Secondary Schools battle it out regionally, cooking a two course meal for four people, where the entrée must
contain Pumpkin as the star of the dish and the main course showcase chicken, using a chicken breast, skin on and bone
in. The chicken has to be accompanied with two New Zealand Grown Fresh seasonal vegetables, a New Zealand Grown potato
and be nutritionally sound using the 5+ A Day guidelines.
‘Schools practice for months to design, trail and get the most out of the 90 minute time constant for the event. The
NSSCC exposes the two team members from each school to real industry pressure, from working through the sessional
requirements of produce, to time pressures that customers dining in a restaurant expect, except the customers this time,
will be respected industry judges.’ Said Glenn Fulcher, Regional Manager for City & Guilds, which is an internationally recognised qualification awarding body from the UK working with New Zealand
Training Providers here in New Zealand.
Glenn, a chef by trade, has worked with students for many years and believes the NSSCC competition is the best Secondary
School competition in New Zealand. ‘The industry experience these students get, through their trainers and mentors, is
second to none and places them in an amazing position to take on the world when they choose hospitality as a career.
Competing in an event like the NSSCC gives each student an edge and shows potential employers that they have committed
to many hours of training and have what it takes to work under pressure.’
City & Guilds has enjoyed a long partnership with the NSSCC where students that have competed in the event from across the
country, enrol at Training Providers and some have even joined the elite City & Guilds Apprenticeship scheme at Sky City to embark on their trade qualification journey.
The NSSCC Grand Final will be held this year at MIT in Manukau, Auckland, where the teams will compete for National
Honours, with some amazing prizes including scholarships to an approved City & Guilds training centre. The finalists from across the country will be under the watchful eye of Chief Judge Mark Wylie,
who has many years’ experience working for leading industry companies and being part of international cooking
competitions.
The Culinary Arts Development Trust, is the not for profit trust that works with all the NSSCC sponsors to ensure the
event runs smoothly. This year, the trust has included the ‘New Zealand Culinary Journey’ where all teams in the
National Final will take part in a day of Master Classes at AUT, run by Auckland’s top chefs, enjoy lunch and tour of
Sky City, one of New Zealand’s largest employers of
hospitality staff. The NZ Culinary Experience day is a chance for them to explore the hospitality industry and gain a
real understanding of the passion and drive chefs have.
If you’re in Auckland on Tuesday the 29th August, come along to MIT at 1pm to watch these teams clash and look and smell
the amazing dishes they are guaranteed to produce. These guys are our next generation of brilliant chefs!
For further information, please contact pacific@cityandguilds.com
ENDS