EIT Hospitality Team Shine in Competition

EIT Hospitality Team Shine in Competition

It could have been a disaster for an EIT hospitality team when a trainee chef fell ill just a day short of the weekend’s Hawke’s Bay Salon Culinaire.

However, John Bland, a rookie in competition, stepped into the breach and like his fellow trainee chef Jordan Murray was awarded gold. The third member of the team, front-of house Mitch Thorne won silver in the regional event, which attracted entries from local secondary schools and, for the first time, UCOL and WITT.

EIT classmates are now dubbing John “the saviour”. For his efforts, he will compete as an individual in the National Culinary Fair being held over three days in Auckland, from 30 July to 1 August.

Liam, meanwhile, will rejoin the team to take part in Toque d’Or, a nationwide cookery and food event for tertiary students held as part of the fair. Toque d’Or is also held in 17 other countries and helped launch the careers of chefs like Jamie Oliver.

EIT programme coordinator for the culinary arts, Celia Kurta says all the team members competing in the regional Salon Culinaire event did really well.

“Chef tutor Korey Field doesn’t make it an easy ride, requiring the team to develop new skills and techniques and some pretty amazing presentation tricks.”

From Hastings, Jordan won bronze for her pasta when she entered Hawke’s Bay Salon Culinaire as a hospitality student at Hastings Girls’ High School.

A second-year diploma student at EIT, she laughs when asked why she wanted to be a chef. “I just like food,” she says.

Enrolled in the Level 3 New Zealand Certificate in Food and Beverage, Mitch also works front-of-house at The Mission. Originally interested in training as a chef, he found himself attracted to a more public role in the hospitality industry after taking part in a restaurant night when he was a student at Napier Boys’ High School.

In his early 30s, John previously had a career in business management but says he’s the happiest he’s ever been studying for the Diploma in Professional Chef Practice at EIT.

Last year’s winner of the inaugural Noel Crawford Memorial Chef Scholarship, which celebrates the contribution made by the late Hawke’s Bay chef to the New Zealand industry by covering more than $6000 in tertiary study fees, John had never taken part in a cooking competition before Sunday’s event.

“It does increase the pressure,” he admits, “everything has to be perfect.”

Celia says it took John a day to learn the recipes for the dishes on the Salon Culinaire menu.

“He did that all day Saturday (23 May) and came in on Sunday and nailed it.”

ENDS

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