News

Murray River Culinary Competition back on again

By Nicole Thomson

Aug 18, 2022

Yes, chef!: Students from three Campaspe school competed in the regional final of the Murray River Culinary Challenge on Wednesday. Photo by Steve Huntley

The Campaspe regional final of the Murray River Culinary Challenge was held at the Echuca campus of Bendigo TAFE on Wednesday.

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Teams from Echuca College, Rochester Secondary College and St Joseph’s College Echuca competed in a set three-course menu of dishes, judged by Paul and Nikki Cohen of Riverbank Moama.

The winning team were Kate Durrant and Dylan Jenkins from Echuca College.

Kate and Dylan will now compete in the Grand Final to be held at the Echuca College training kitchens on Monday September 12 from 9.30am until about 1pm with teams from Swan Hill College, Nathalia Secondary College and Galen College.

The Murray River Culinary Challenge has been running since 2006 as an industry standard cooking competition for secondary school students enrolled in a Vocational Education and Training (VET) Hospitality Training Package.

The challenge spans four regions and will involve more than 120 students attending 15 schools from Echuca, Shepparton, Swan Hill, Wangaratta and districts.

At the school level, students compete individually for a spot in the regional final, and the two top scoring students from each school compete as a team.

The top scoring team then progresses to the Grand Final.

Menus in each level of the competition become progressively more difficult and are designed for students to be able to demonstrate their skills learnt during their hospitality training.

The competition is judged by top industry representatives from the regions who donate their time and expertise.