On Saturday, February 20th Loyalist College Culinary students hosted the Ninth Annual Junior Iron Chef Competition for Quinte and surrounding area high schools. The three finalists were Kingston’s Loyalist Collegiate Vocational Institute (LCVI), Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School from Courtice, and Picton’s Prince Edward Collegiate Institute (PECI). First place was awarded to PECI. Second place was presented to LCVI and Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School placed third. The students competed for bursaries and a wide range of prizes.
Capitalizing on the success of the Japanese-produced Iron Chef television series, Loyalist students created this unique local competition in order to promote the art of cooking to aspiring young chefs, and to promote the excellence of the College’s Culinary Management and Chef Training programs.
“I had never taken a cooking class prior to this competition,” said Henry Goddard, a grade 12 student and captain of the Picton team. “It was great to be a part of this. There are so many basic skills in the culinary field that make such a difference and I discovered that timing is crucial. We had practised so many times that today I actually felt calm, not nervous.”
Doug James is the LCVI teacher who coordinated the Kingston team. “We enter teams because this is an amazing event. It’s exciting to watch the transformation of our team members each year. They are so enthusiastic and focused on their schoolwork. They become very aware of their surroundings and supportive of each other. It’s not about themselves as individuals but the team as a whole. The bar is set very high in this competition. The students are developing their culinary skills and their professionalism by interacting with the chefs, judges, faculty and culinary students. One of the students on our team has applied to the Loyalist Culinary Management program. She has wanted to be a chef since she was in grade nine and can’t wait to start training in September.”
The competition was held in conjunction with a Food and Beverage Show with representatives from the food, wine and tourism industries. Click for more information about Loyalist’s Chef Training and Culinary Management programs.
Media Contact: Marilyn Warren, Communications, Loyalist College, (613) 969-1913, ext. 2332; e-mail: mwarren@loyalistc.on.ca or Margaret Beaumaster, Culinary Program, ext. 2213