Basseterre, St. Kitts, November 27, 2019 (ZIZ News): Washington Archibald High School took the top prize at the 2019 High School Chefs’ Competition held at the St. Kitts Eco-Park on Tuesday.
The aroma of delectable dishes and appetizing deserts filled the St. Kitts Eco-Park on Tuesday when the students from five high schools in St. Kitts put their culinary skills to the test at the finals of the annual High School Chef’s Competition.
The students first faced off at the semi-finals on November 6th where they were able to prepare any dish of their choosing.
In the finals, they had to choose dishes to prepare from a basket which were selected by the Department of Youth Empowerment. They were given two-and-a-half hours to prepare and plate a main course, desert and to prepare a drink.
The dishes were then judged based on presentation, taste and flavour, texture, creativity, cleanliness and techniques.
Acting Director of Youth Empowerment, Pierre Liburd said that this competition is not only a test of culinary skills, it is also practice for the field of culinary arts.
Minister of Education, the Hon. Shawn Richards in addressing the students said that this competition is partly about education noting that it helps them prepare for CXC.
“As said to you by persons who spoke before me, it helps you to hone your cooking skills, your team spirit, it helps you in terms of preparing for CXC because you have practicals to do, you have the actual exam that have a practical component and even in speaking to a number of you this afternoon and asking you if you enjoyed the competition and if you learned anything from it, you answered in the affirmative and said yes you did.”
At the end of judging, Washington Archibald High won with 147 points and walked away with a cheque valued at $1,500, followed by Cayon High with 143 points and Verchild’s High taking third place with 139 points. Other participating schools were Charles E. Mills Secondary School and Basseterre High School.
The High School Chefs’ Competition is part of Youth Month activities hosted by the Department of Youth Empowerment.