Students compete in Root to Tip cook off

Ready, set, cook! Eight budding young Christchurch chefs put their skills to the test today in an inaugural cook-off aimed at encouraging better food education in schools.

The Root to Tip School Cooking challenge at Casebrook Intermediate today pitted eight of the region’s top Year 7 and Year 8 cooks against each other, creating a fresh, seasonal vegetarian dish using everything in the vegetable from root to tip. 

Halswell School students Emma Foung, 12, and Mihi Freeman, 13, set up for the Root to Tip cooking challenge.

A joint initiative between the Garden to Table Trust and Christchurch City Council, the challenge was created following the release of recent research by Massey University which identified Kiwi children are not being taught how to cook.

For 13-year-old Mihi Freeman from Halswell School, the competition was a chance to show off her cooking skills.

"We like that you can use natural and fresh ingredients and we're thinking about how much food gets wasted.  We like veggies and we've bought along kale from our school garden, we grew our own broccoli flowers for garnish, lemons from home, and other veggies we bought from our local farmers market."

Mihi and her cooking partner Emma Foung created an entree of roast vegetable chips with pesto, and a main dish of spiralised vegetables with an Italian dressing.

Garden to Table South Island programme co-ordinator Victoria Biddick believes the competition will help to instill food education as a positive part of our children’s lives.

“For any adult, it’s fairly easy to create a good meal by walking into a supermarket and buying ingredients, but our Cooking Challenge encourages students to be resourceful by using seasonal produce sourced direct from their school, community and family gardens.”

Today’s contestants had their final dishes judged by a panel of four foodie experts, including local chef Alesha Bilbrough-Collins from Bearlion Foods, Alex Davies of Gatherings Restaurant and renowned New Zealand chef Jonny Schwass.

The winning team was Otis Swallow and Noah Cobby from Diamond Harbour. The pair cooked roasted carrots with carrot top, walnut & parsley pesto as an entrée, and Potato and Basil Pizza with Pumpkin Base as a main.

Besides getting local kids excited about healthy eating, Christchurch City Council’s Manger of Solid Waste Ross Trotter hoped the competition would continue to build a sense of community for local schools.

“We’re so pleased to see kids getting in the kitchen. It’s also an engaging way to get young chefs and their parents thinking about better food choices and minimising food waste which is a key Love Food Hate Waste message.”