High-profile TV show judge joins Culinary Challenge panel

One of the high-profile judges from TVNZ’s newest cooking show will join the judging panel for the final of Junior Masterchef at MIT this month.

Ben Bayly of MKR (NZ) will join chief judge from Caterplus, Mark Wylie, and three other professional executive chefs tasked with determining which secondary school team will take the 2014 National Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge title.

“This has been a three-month journey from the first regional event to the nationals in September,” City & Guilds Pacific Manager, Glenn Fulcher says.

“We have witnessed some amazing dishes, creative designs and very committed students and trainers. The benchmark has been set and we expect the standard to be very high indeed for the grand finale at the Manukau Institute of Technology on the 12th of September.”

Regional finalists
Northland – Northland Trades Academy (Whangarei) – Hayden Rodgers (Whangarei Boys) and Mataroria Rawhiti (Tauraroa Area School);
 Auckland – Long Bay College (North Shore) – Kiwon Lee and Minseop Kim;
 Waikato – Sacred Heart Girls’ College (Hamilton) – Melissa Petrin and Hannah Ralph
; Hawkes Bay – St John’s College (Hastings) – Jake Ireland and Sam Heaven
; Taranaki – Spotswood College (New Plymouth) – Bree Paton-Courtney and Shardae McGoven
; Wellington – Heretaunga College (Upper Hutt) – Tyler Langerveld and Grace Cunningham; 
Nelson/Marlborough – Nelson College – Chakkapong Klahan and Louis Clark; 
Canterbury – Burnside High School (Christchurch) – Kimberly McLeod and Sharon Cao
; Southern – Queen’s High School (Dunedin) – Lauren Wright and Abby Johnson.

The two students who win the National Title will receive a gift pack each from vegetables.co.nz, an iPad mini and a $2000 scholarship each towards their study of a City & Guilds International Catering Qualification, in a City & Guilds approved training centre of their choice.
The winning school will receive a $1000 voucher from Bidvest and a E32D4 Blue Seal Turbofan Oven and Stand from Moffat New Zealand worth $7000.

The annual National Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge is made possible by support from the following sponsors: City & Guilds, NZ Chicken, Southern Hospitality, Vegetables.co.nz, Potatoes New Zealand, 5+A Day, Bidvest and Moffatt.