TWO students from St Mary MacKillop College VET Hospitality course will compete in the Murray River Culinary Challenge Grand Final later this year, after winning the regional finals.
Francesco Tuntar and Shakira Siggins wowed the judges with their three-course feasts of entree, main and dessert.
They will compete in Shepparton against students from the Echuca and Shepparton regions next month, after the competitors were whittled down to the final four pairs.
Francesso and Shakira were judged to pip their competition from Kerang Technical High School, by judges Rebecca Hart, from Boo’s Place Cafe, and Ryan Box, from The Orange Door Catering.
The Murray Mallee Local Learning and Employment Network organises the competition each year, with secondary students from Victoria and NSW river regions invited to take part.
Murray Mallee LLEN projects manager Kerryn Zanker said the invitational event carried real prestige in the culinary world.
“The challenge is considered a major annual event for schools and is recognised as a prestigious event by students, trainers, teachers, school principals, chefs and hospitality establishments,” she said.
“The students learn a lot about occupational health and safety, as well as a lot of organisational skills.”
“It truly is a challenge, so the students are in a high-pressure situation not dissimilar to what they would see in a normal kitchen environment.
“It’s a prestigious completion, and it does really equate to those real-life skills.”
Mrs Zanker said it was yet to be decided who the St Mary MacKillop students would compete against.
The other regions are still running their regional challenges,” she said.”So we aren’t sure who the students from the Murray Mallee LLEN region will be coming up against in the challenge yet.
“The number of schools who participate can fluctuate a little bit each year, depending on the number of students enrolled in Hospitality.
“The Wangaratta region didn’t have enough hospitality students to get involved in this year’s challenge.
“Next year will be the 17th year of the challenge, and we are hoping to make that a big event and extend it to include the hospitality students all the way up to Mildura.”
Mrs Zanker said she hoped next year’s culinary challenge would give a chance to recognise the hard work that went on behind the scenes to run the competition.
“We’ve got judges and trainers who have been involved in the challenge all the way since the start in 2006,” she said.
“We want to make sure that they get the recognition that they deserve for their involvement before they retire from those roles.
“We’re all invested in the hospitality industry, so we are excited to see a lot more students take part in the future.”
