A new generation of future chefs will make their debut at this year's
PCA South Burnett Regional Culinary Competition.
Amongst the line-up of cookery students, trainees and apprentice chefs is 15-year-old school-based trainee
Aimee Stoddart (
pictured at right with dad Paul).
Aimee is a student at Kingaroy State High School, works part-time at the
Burning Beats Restaurant in Kingaroy and studies commercial cookery at Kingaroy TAFE.
The budding young cook will also compete against more seasoned chefs (
including her father Paul Stoddart who's a four-time veteran of the competition and a 2004 prize-winner).
When Aimee was asked why she'd entered, she jokingly replied: "Because the old man's making me!"
"The truth be told, Aimee has high ambitions of becoming an apprentice chef when she completes her senior studies and hopes to train in high-class restaurants and five-star hotels," TAFE Hospitality teacher and cook-off competition co-organiser Jason Ford said.
"I think that entering professional cookery competitions is an integral part of any chef's development; they're exposed to other cooks, current trends and new ideas."
The 4th annual PCA South Burnett Regional Culinary Competition will be a key part of the Tarong Mine Wine and Food in the Park Festival in Kingaroy's Memorial Park on March 11.Festival-goers will have the opportunity watch a roll-call of the South Burnett's best cooking wizards live on stage as they whip-up delicious meals using regional produce and local wines.
