Students showcase skills at 17th Annual Waikato Culinary Fare

The 17th Annual Waikato Culinary Fare saw almost 300 intermediate, secondary and tertiary wannabe chefs competing for top awards in their respective categories at the Wintec Rotokauri Campus Hospitality kitchens.

The Waikato Culinary Fare is a Wintec event, in partnership with Cater Plus, that features static and live food events. Students compete for the highest scores which see their entries achieve gold, silver or bronze awards. It took place over two days this year, on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 September. 

In the live kitchen events, students find out the ingredients an hour before they enter the kitchen and must create something from that. The static competitions give them the chance to showcase a dish they’ve been able to work on and hopefully perfect beforehand. 

Josh Kanara-Bailey, chef and Wintec senior academic staff member for Hospitality, said Covid had limited the event for the last few years, but the team were excited to be able to host it again, albeit later in the year due to Omicron.   

“While the later timing wasn’t ideal, as it was in the middle of mock NCEA exams, the schools were really enthusiastic, so we were pleased to still get just under 300 students competing,” he said  

Josh Kanara-Bailey, chef and Wintec senior academic staff member for Hospitality

While the Culinary Fare is predominantly a high school event, with schools represented from as far away as Taumarunui, Manaia and Massey High in Auckland, there are also tertiary categories.

“I always encourage our Wintec Year 1 certificate of Culinary Arts students to compete. A lot of them are already out in the workforce, in places like Gothenburg, Mr Pickles, catering and all over the place, so for them it’s a chance to showcase the skills they have gained from Wintec and their industry experience, as well as to test themselves,” Josh said.

In the live kitchen events, students find out the ingredients an hour before they enter the kitchen and must create something from that. If they’re a bit shy and don’t want to do that, they can enter the static competitions, that gives them the chance to showcase a dish they’ve been able to work on and hopefully perfect beforehand. 

The fare is a great place for high school students to get a taste of the industry. 

“It’s a tough industry, but the people who get into it are passionate.

“The event also gives secondary students a chance to see Wintec and what it’s like to be here. If they pathway into it, then that’s awesome, but if not, hopefully they’ve learned some new cooking skills,” Josh said.

Michelle Knott, Teacher in Charge of Food Technology at the Waikato Diocesan School for Girls was excited to be a judge this year, especially since one of her past pupils, Alex Timmo, was competing at tertiary level.

“It’s very exciting to be here, there’s lots of incredible talent being displayed, lots of skills and techniques. There were a couple of individual chefs today because their partners didn’t turn up, so they’ve really had to step up,” she said.

Alex Timmo partnered with Alyssa Holcraft for a live Kitchen event on Thursday morning. The pair are both completing the Wintec Certificate in Culinary Arts this year.

“The course is really cool. I’ve loved the kitchen service side of it as it’s a good insight into what it’s like working in the industry. The equipment is also incredible,” Alex said.

The pair said they were nervous coming to the fare but kept calm and solved issues as they popped up.

Budding cooks Alyssa (left) and Alex.

“I think we went well today. I think Alex and I work good as a team. We only got the list of ingredients we could use this morning so we had no idea before then and we just kind of sat together and threw ideas out of what we could hero in the dish, what we knew we could do in the timeframe,” Alyssa said.

Both young women aspire to stay in the trade, with Alex heading to Italy in June next year for six months. 

“I want to find an authentic Italian restaurant where I can work and learn the local cuisine. One of the judges here today, Michelle Knott, was my cooking teacher at school last year and she really pushed me and made me realise this is what I want to do. Since being here, our tutor, Josh, is super supportive and has helped me heaps. He is really good mentor,” Alex said.

Alyssa on the other hand would like to be a pastry chef so she said she was looking at moving to Auckland or maybe Melbourne to try and break into the industry. 

“We’ve learned so much this year and the tutors are so supportive and even just having likeminded people in our class has been so cool, it’s been great to be able to figure out things together,” Alyssa said.

Alex and Alyssa won Gold in their event: Magic Box Team Event Junior – Year 1.

This year’s top school and overall winner was Waikato Diocesan School for Girls

See all of this year’s 17th Annual Waikato Culinary Fare winners: Culinary Fare Winners