Harvest announces winners of Inter College Culinary Challenge

Eastleigh College has won the Inter College Culinary Challenge, sponsored by Harvest Fine Foods.

Held at City College Southampton in its industry-standard training kitchens and Aspire Restaurant, the competition involved more than 70 students from five colleges: City College Southampton, Eastleigh College, Fareham College, Basingstoke College of Technology and City of Portsmouth College.

Jonty King of Fareham College, winner of the Mystery Box Challenge.

In addition to Eastleigh College winning the Overall College prize, the following award winners were announced:

Joe Abbess Memorial Award (named after a student from City College Southampton who tragically died earlier this year): Oliva Leigh, Eastleigh College

Pasta Class: Fiona King, City College Southampton

Gallo Rice Risotto Dish: Jamie Rowe, Eastleigh College

Vegetable Cuts: Oliva Leigh, Eastleigh College

Mystery Box Challenge: Jonty King, Fareham College

Restaurant Table Lay Up: Maddison Lipscombe, Eastleigh College

Mocktail or Cocktail Making: Sam Jurd, Eastleigh College

Phil Clark, development chef for Harvest, commented: “As a company, we want to encourage the students to enjoy the food, enjoy the cooking and gain as much experience as they can before they go out to the industry. The students are the future chefs, future buyers, and we want to help encourage more young people into the industry.”

Simon Hart, senior teacher in hospitality at City College Southampton, added: “I find student competitions a great way to stretch learning and to help get them ready for the workplace. It gives students the opportunity to excel and a competitive edge required in the industry.”