May 2006
WelTec students cook up a hurricane
WelTec’s hospitality students took away a major medal haul from the Wellington Culinary Fare held at the Wellington Food
Show in the Westpac Stadium.
In total 31 WelTec students entered and won First in Class in eight of the events over the weekend. The students earned
10 gold medals, 10 silver, eight bronze and eight certificates of participation and WelTec tutor Scott Campbell earned
the Chef of the Capital title.
WelTec students competed in food bar service as well as patisserie and cookery. “Our students not only competed in the
trainee sections but also in the open classes, which included professional chefs,” says cookery tutor Paul Gibb.
Paul says there were some acts of bravery on the students’ part – cookery student Timothy Barber stood in for an injured
student and ended up competing in three events in the two days – winning medals in all of them.
“Another student wasn’t able to complete her event in the allocated time. She didn’t give up; we encouraged her to enter
the more challenging Magic Box event and she got a silver medal for it,” says Paul.
In this event the entrant has one hour to prepare a meal from a box of secret ingredients.
“The Culinary Fare is a fantastic event that gives people a chance to show of their skills and hopefully will encourage
others to think about entering a great industry,” say Paul.
The national event will be held in Auckland in October. Paul says that WelTec will send a fresh batch of students,
rather than the ones that competed in Wellington.
“We believe that all students should have the chance to prove themselves, not just a few stars. The students love it.
They get totally into it on stage.
“It’s not the medal count that is important to us but the learning that students get from doing their best in
competition.”
For information on WelTec’s award winning hospitality programmes check out www.weltec.ac.nz or phone 0800 WELTEC
ENDS