With one hundred competitors having registered to take part in the 2017 Competition, the quest to find the next LACA School Chef of the Year has got off to a great start.
This year’s Competition structure has undergone a number of improvements which include refinements to rules and judging criteria, the introduction of three major Regional Final Cook Off events and a new prize package for the national winners.
In addition to the kudos of winning the national title, the 2017 champion will this year receive a £1,000 cash prize. He or she will also be awarded the LACA 2017 School Chef of the Year trophy, a commemorative plaque, a work experience trip and an invitation to a calendar of high profile catering industry engagements between 2017 - 2018. The national Highly Commended Main Course and Dessert winners will also receive a cash prize of £500 each and commemorative plaques.
The LACA School Chef of the Year Competition has been the flagship event for school chefs to showcase their professional skills for more than twenty years. It is organised by LACA (Lead Association for CAtering in Education) and is sponsored by MAGGI® from Nestlé Professional®.
Despite the significant improvements that have taken place within school catering across Britain over the last decade, the Competition is just as important now as ever before. Its key aims are to show to parents the high quality of school meals today and the contribution they not only make to the health and wellbeing of their children but also their physical and educational attainment.
School chefs who have registered for the 2017 Competition, will now have to formally submit their menu and recipe entries by 28 October 2016. The first round of judging takes place in early November. The participants who successfully complete this stage will go on to take part in the live Regional Finals. Separate heats will be held between November - January for the contestants from each of the ten LACA regions in three locations situated in Northern, Central and Southern England. The National Final will be held in Stratford upon Avon on Thursday 2 March 2017.
Once again in 2017, the preparation, cooking, creativity and presentation skills of school chefs will be put to the test. With a maximum of £1.30 to spend and just one and a half hours to prepare their dishes, each entrant is required to produce a healthy balanced two-course meal comprising of a main course and dessert that would appeal to eleven year olds in school. The nutritional content of contestants’ dishes must comply with the School Food Standards and take into account the Eat Well Guide 2016.
The dishes that feature on the 2017 contestants’ menus demonstrate the exceptional culinary expertise of school chefs. With the inspiration for their ingredients, flavours and themes drawn from exotic locations across the globe, their creative and imaginative main course and dessert dishes are destined to seriously challenge the taste buds of the judges at each of the Regional Finals.
The Chair of the Judging Panel for all of the Regional Finals, as well as the 2017 National Final, will be Justin Clarke, Food Development Chef for MAGGI® at Nestlé Professional®. On the Judging Panel at each Regional Final will be a local professional chef, an education catering professional (Jacqui Webb, LACA) and a Year 6 boy and girl from a school near each of the three Cook Off locations.
Commenting at the start of the 2017 competition, new LACA National Chair, Sally Shadrack says: “What is the secret formula for the LACA School Chef of the Year Competition? School cooks with passion, dedication and oodles of culinary skill mixed together with delicious, nutritious dishes prepared with real flair using fresh