Chef
Level 1 > Young
The Rotary Ireland Culinary Ability Chefs
A new all Ireland cookery competition, which aims to enhance young people’s culinary skills while using a ‘buddy system’ to bring down barriers associated with disabilities, has been launched by Rotary Ireland and the Culinary Ability Awards (CAA).
The Rotary Ireland Culinary Ability Chefs event is open to young people aged 14 to 17 who have a passion and respect for food as well as a willingness to learn and share.
One of the key elements of the competition, which was launched recently at the Killashee Hotel in Naas, is that able young people will be paired with and support a disabled partner in a dual format competition.
Andrew Cremin from Rotary Ireland said the emphasis of the competition will be on empowerment, inclusion, and personal development.
“We want budding young chefs, abled and disabled from all over the island, north and south, to come together in a safe and fun-loving environment to learn and compete against each other under the guidance of fully qualified chefs. The buddy or pairing system will be key and we’ll be putting a lot of thought into that,” he said.
“We are delighted to partner with CAA for this event which clearly supports the values of both our organisations. We are looking forward to hundreds of young people entering this competition and we would urge parents, teachers and youth workers all over the island to encourage them to do so.”
There are two competitions running side by side, at the same time. It will begin with Rotary Ireland Culinary Ability Chefs training budding chefs, abled and disabled all over the island. Initially, the abled competitors and disabled competitors will train separately for their own respective competition. At a later stage they will be brought together with a mentoring chef and the abled competitor will become a support or ‘buddy’ to the disabled competitor, assisting the latter as they prepare for their contest.
The competition will take place at local, regional and All Ireland with prizes varying from vouchers to cookery equipment to a real-life working experience in a top kitchen.
Young people across Ireland can enter via their schools, youth clubs, youth associations, support bodies or by contacting their local Rotary club.If you don't know of any nearby Rotary Club you can check out where your nearest club is located by clicking here. Information pack and Entry Forms can be found by making contact with this club