Competition
Limerick Schools present Young Chef of the Year award 2019
Young Chef of the Year award 2019 – The team behind the Fleetwood Young Chef of the Year including Katharine Tate (second left) and Harry Lomas (far right)
Limerick Schools present Young Chef of the Year award 2019
A future Gordon Ramsey or Mary Berry could be right here in Limerick and about to be discovered with the launch of the city’s Young Chef of the Year award 2019. This is a project developed by The Food Teacher™ team in the UK to improve long-term health by educating children and their families about food and nutrition.
The award was first launched in 2017 in Lancashire, UK through the Healthier Fleetwood initiative supported by GP Dr Mark Spencer. He explains how the idea behind the award is making a difference, “Cooking is great fun and brings families and friends together. Getting children interested in cooking and improving their nutritional knowledge is a great initiative.”
Two Primary schools across the city, with the support of nutrition coach and teacher Evelyn Hartigan and funding from the JP McManus Charitable Foundation, will be taking part this year. Students in 5th/6th classes (ages 10-12) taking up the challenge will be designing a ‘Meal for their Hero’ of soup, main course, dessert and a drink for under €10. Along the way, the children will learn chef skills, seasonality, cooking methods, food hygiene and safety, where food comes from and healthy diets. The teaching will also cross over into other curriculum areas such as English, Mathematics, Geography, Science and Social Personal and Health Education.
Coordinating the challenge with the programme of activities and resources is The Food Teacher™ team (teachers and nutritional therapist) who feel, “Teaching children the importance of food for their health is essential and this challenge provides that opportunity within a practical, purposeful and engaging context.”
Among the resources available to the schools will be videos from Katharine Tate (The Food Teacher™, Director) and Harry Lomas MBE. “Chef Harry has been instrumental in developing essential chef skills into the awards to motivate and interest children in food, cooking, presentation and hospitality.” Katharine added. Evelyn sums up, “Eating the right food can bring about major health benefits both physically and mentally for all of us. So, let’s get cooking!”
For further information on the competition, click here.
For further info, contact Marie Reynolds The Food Teacher™, Education Consultant (Limerick Lead) at [email protected]
For more stories featuring cuisine, click here.