2011 Young Chef Local Heat

YOUNG CELEBRITY CHEFS

 The popularity of celebrity chef programmes on television has encouraged everyone to try their hand at cooking good food. Gryffe Valley Rotary Club plays its part by promoting a local heat for the annual Rotary Young Chef competition under its Youth Opportunities programme. The 2011 heat was held at St Columba's school in December and it attracted an entry of 8 young potential celebrity chefs.

 Chefs were given a set time and budget and had to create a menu of 2 courses, prepare and cook the food, set a table and present the 2 dishes. Three lucky judges had the  enviable but challenging task of marking their performance and selecting an overall winner to move forward to the regional finals. The high levels of skill, competence, imagination and indeed improvisation displayed by all the contestants hugely impressed them and the overall standard of food was declared as 'outstanding'. One of the judges had to be reminded that he was only supposed to be tasting each dish and not clearing the plates!

 Ultimately the judges determined that Johnathon Ferguson was the runner up and  that 12 year old Heather Fleming was the winner. We can assured that her professional level of expertise will stand her in good stead in the regional finals in January.

 Special thanks are due to Mick McLaughlan of St Columba's for his help and support at the school, to Sandy Gibb Stuart for providing generous prizes for the contestants, to John Clark of the Gryffe Camera club for taking photographs and of course to the judges Liz Fairbairn, Janet Anderson and John Boyd who selflessly sacrificed their waistlines!