Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland runs many competitions for young people. One of these is the Rotary Young Chef competition. Our club members were delighted to support a competition at the Faringdon Community College, after being contacted by one of the teachers there.
The FCC competition took place on Friday 12th January. Organised by the teacher Georgia Holland and supported by our club, we saw eight students each produce two courses, for two people, in two hours and for under £18.00. Bjorn from our club was a judge, along with Georgia, a deputy head teacher, and Sam, the Head Chef at the The Old Crown Coaching Inn. Sam was able to give the students a few tips (all shared out fairly!)
The judges agreed that everyone produced fantastic dishes but Henry won the competition with ravioli and creme brulee.
Henry then took part in the district final at Newbury College on 24th February.
Henry’s mum Claire was able to join him at the competition and as she reported:
“Henry was thrilled to have got through to this round. It was quite an experience for him, competing and cooking in a professional kitchen! He wasn’t too disappointed not to have got through to the next round and I’m sure he’ll keep cooking. He’s very interested in the nutrition aspect of his Food & Nutrition GCSE, which is great.”
We’ve already agreed that we hope to run this competition again next year and hopefully we can discuss some of the other Rotary competitions run by Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland with the school over the next few months.
Read more about Rotary’s youth competitions.