What is the Young Chef Competition?
During the Farm to School National Conference celebrated in Victoria BC (May 15th– 17th), the Young Chef Competition aimed to showcase some of the healthy, delicious dishes that students cook up on a day to day basis at schools across the province. Applications were solicited for student-created recipes from organizations that deliver school cooking programs in BC. The winning recipe inspired dishes that were prepared by a team of professional chefs and served during the conference’s signature networking dinner event on the evening of Thursday May 16th.
Congratulations to the Winners!
Sarah Priet & Laura Siegenthaler,
Les Tablée Des Chefs – Grade 10 and 12, Rutland Senior Secondary School, Kelowna
Recipe title: Poêlées Forestières sur Polenta
“For us as international students in BC, it was important to combine the local ingredients from both of our homes. We wanted to put European and Canadian ingredients in our dish. BC is famous for its nature and endless forests, that’s why we took it as our topic. BC is the second largest mushroom producing province in Canada, so we decided to take the mushrooms as one of our main ingredients for this dish.” Sarah and Laura
Martine Roy
Graines de Chefs – Grade 5, Ecole Anne Hébert, Vancouver
Recipe title: PatatOchoux – Potato & Cabbage
“In British Columbia, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams and brussels sprouts can be grown. Cows are also raised to produce milk, which is then processed into cheese. Besides, we also have a garden in which we grow potatoes and many other vegetables. My friend Anna came to my house and we wanted to make dinner. So we looked in my recipe book and found a cauliflower and cheese recipe with mashed potatoes. But we didn’t have cauliflowers. I looked in my fridge to see the vegetables we had and found brussels sprouts.” Martine
The National Farm to School Conference organizers were thoroughly impressed with the creativity and quality of the recipes submitted by the participating students. We also enjoyed reading the explanation provided by the students about how their recipes showcase local BC ingredients,the inspiration behind them. In their application forms, students shared their insights and thoughts about the relevance of healthy, local food; the connection with local food system and environment; the importance of having culturally significant food at our tables; an awareness about management of food waste, and certainly the joy of preparing and sharing food with others. The National Farm to School Conference sought to support and promote all these ideas, actions and values and we were thrilled to hear that they are resonating with the students.
