Parua Bay School students Holly Patterson, left, and Madyson Picard working well together in the kitchen - the form that saw them crowned New Zealand's Root to Tip cooking competition winners.
Parua Bay School students Holly Patterson, left, and Madyson Picard working well together in the kitchen - the form that saw them crowned New Zealand's Root to Tip cooking competition winners.
Move over Masterchef, stand down My Kitchen Rules - there's a new pair of cooking champs in town.
A pair of 10-year-old friends from Parua Bay School, in Whangārei, have won a national cooking competition, using local produce and some of their families' recipes.
Holly Patterson and Madyson Picard from Parua Bay School, Northland have been crowned New Zealand's Root to Tip cooking competition winners, from more than 400 year 5 and 6 school pupils who entered this year's competition.
The girls, who won the Northland event to get to the finals, are good friends and before entering had already spent time in the kitchen together baking.
Holly's mum Deborah Patterson said the fact that they worked so well in the kitchen together helped them win Friday's event, which was a high-pressure situation with judges talking to the contestants as they were preparing and cooking their dishes.
Patterson said the pair spent a lot of time in the kitchen together and separately which meant they were fluid when working in the kitchen under the pressure.
''They really enjoyed the day and had a great time. But they spent so much time in the kitchen beforehand, working on their dishes and improving them,'' she said.
Madyson took a fried bread recipe form her nana and turned them into buns for their carrot burger — which contained carrot, parsnip, a carrot salsa, beetroot and mesclun lettuce. Holly took an apple dessert recipe from her great grandmother.
Very proud Parua Bay School students Holly Patterson, left, and Madyson Picard after winning the national Root to Tip cooking competition.
Head judge Al Brown said the winning dishes of a veggie patch burger with ribbon fries and sweet and spice apple delight, were "bold in flavour, presented beautifully, and left next to no food wastage in its preparation," which were all key factors in deciding the competition winners.
Run by Garden to Table, with the support of RaboDirect, the Root to Tip competition challenged year 5 and 6 pupils from around New Zealand to grate, slice, cook, create and plate a meal from "root to tip", leaving little or no food waste. The competition with a twist, aims to encourage children to get creative in the kitchen, while tackling the serious issue of food wastage.
The students were required to source their produce locally from family, community or school gardens, and turn it into a creative, delicious two-course, vegetable-based meal, which was judged by local chefs for taste and the amount of food wasted.
Patterson said Holly and Madyson didn't waste a thing form their produce, even making candy lemon peel for the dessert and using the carrot tops and vege peelings, including onion and garlic skins. They also used a tamarillo coulis in their dessert and got a score of 94 out of 100.
She said Holly was keen on cooking and was already been using some of the prizes she won, such as a blender to create more delights.
''Holly definitely wants to take things further and she has got quite a passion for cooking.''
Friday's event saw 20 competition finalists flown from around New Zealand to cook in front of judges Brown, Catherine Bell co-founder of Garden to Table and Paul Cording from RaboDirect at Weltec Wellington.
Brown said the competition helps people of all ages understand where their food comes from, how to make the most of available ingredients and reduce food wastage.
"Root to Tip gave children an opportunity to learn important skills they can take into adulthood, from growing, cultivating and cooking food to learning about how to stretch ingredients further. Witnessing the creativity, skills and genuine talent of these budding chefs as they've taken part in this challenge has been inspiring.''
The winning pupils each received a $1000 account with RaboDirect, plus one-year free membership to the Garden to Table programme for their school and a range of other kitchen items.
