The club decided this year to have a go at the Young Chef competition, and rather than develop the contest from scratch accepted the invitation from Chichester Priory to participate in their competition. 

The competition consists of 3 stages. The first is a written submission of the candidates menu for their chosen topic and with a limit of £5 to be spent on ingredients. From these the best are selected to attend round one of the competition and cook their selected dish. These are then judged and again the best are invited to the final where they cook their selected dish again plus this time a desert of their choice. The final winners geta prize of £50 and spend a day in the kitchens of Comme Ca restaurant in Chichester. 

We had two entrants into the competition Jarrid Bendell  and Nathaniel Andrews from Park Community School and we were delighted that they both made it through to the finals with commendations. 

The first round was to submit a menu for a two course  meal, complete with recipes and cooking details. The second round was preparing the first course in the students kitchen of Chichester Grammar School. Points were scored according to method, care & approach to the preparation of the meal, as well as ability to timing etc. This was done on the Monday, and judged by Catering Lectures and professional chefs.

The final round was held on Wednesday, again at the school, with the same judges giving marks for the same criteria. The Rotary Club of Chichester Priory hosted the evening . We were able to enjoy seeing the deserts prepared by the participants and to chat with the youngsters, their supporting teachers and parents. We also greatly appreciated circulating and chatting with Rotarians before having a buffet meal (prepared by outside caterers )

The awards were made at the end of meeting, with both Jarrid and Nathaniel being  Highly Commended. A great and worth while project, which we hope will form the basis of our own competition next year. Overall we were extremely gratified with our first venture into the Young Chef arena and look forward to building on this for future years