Caption: Fiji’s future chefs competing at the 2013 Nadroga and Navosa Schools Chefs Challenge.
By TALEI TORA
Cuvu College is the Nadroga and Navosa secondary schools culinary champion after edging Sigatoka Andhra Sangam College in the finals of the 2013 chef challenge.
Cuvu College walked away with 2 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals narrowly beating Sigatoka Andhra Sangam College by 1 point. Nadroga Arya College, Nawai Secondary School and Sigatoka Valley High School also walked away with medals in the competition.
Ninety two students from 8 schools in Nadroga and Navosa competed in the culinary cook off on Friday, 16, August at Sigatoka Andhra Sangam College.
Sponsored by the Outrigger on the Lagoon · Fiji in partnership with Sigatoka Andhra Sangam College the competition was a test of the students cooking creativity and skills using local foods and vegetables.
Outrigger Fiji executive chef and president of the Fiji Chefs association Shailesh Naidu said the judges had a hard time choosing the winners as the dishes prepared were of fine dining standards.
“These school children are just remarkable and the dishes they prepared were very creative and of such high standards”, Chef Naidu said.
“We’d like to thank all our sponsors Ram Sami and Sons, Bakels, Crest Chicken, Coral Coast Fruits and Vegetables and Danny’s for teaming up with Outrigger Fiji to make this competition a success”, he continued.
Outrigger on the Lagoon ∙ Fiji General Manager Peter Hopgood said the resort was very proud to sponsor a program that encouraged culinary arts for students, “The creativity and skill that our students are displaying at these competitions are just amazing and we believe that this needs to be nurtured from a young age”.
“These kinds of competitions are so important for school kids because it teaches them many important lessons such as using fresh foods and vegetables to cook scrumptious and exciting meals and to follow their dreams into culinary arts to become great local chefs”, Mr. Hopgood continued.
Outrigger Fiji General Manager with the Cuvu College champion teams.