Chef Master@BASE grand finale

Six secondary schools from the Melbourne area recently competed in the second year of the “Chef Master@BASE” grand finale, hosted by the Monash University Department of Nutrition and Dietetics.

“The aim of the Chef Master@BASE competition was to better engage with year 10 students from local schools,” said Professor Helen Truby, Head of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, “and to encourage them to study chemistry to meet entry requirements for nutrition programs at university.”

"The recipes for the heats and the finals were chosen to illustrate the chemical changes that occur when cooking food and thus help to demonstrate the importance of chemistry as a prerequisite to studying nutrition at university," said Andrea Bryce, Nutrition Program Manager and head judge of the competition.

"Students were awarded points for the successful execution of the recipes as well as their ability to work as a team and maintain a clean and safe kitchen environment,” added Andrea.

Two new schools joined the four schools who participated in the cooking competition last year. Participants in the finals were teams of students from Westall Secondary College, Mornington Secondary College, Cranbourne Secondary College, Narre Warren South P-12 College, Western Port Secondary College and Gleneagles Secondary College. The finals were held on the 22 and 29 August at the Be Active Sleep & Eat (BASE) facility in Notting Hill.

Students from Mornington Secondary College and Narre Warren South P-12 College won the finals and were presented with a copy of Save with Jamie, generously donated by Penguin Group (Australia).

“Chef Master@BASE provided a friendly welcoming environment for the students,” said Maree Schmidt, Food Technology Leader at Cranbourne Secondary College.

The funding for Chef Master@BASE was allocated by Monash University’s Higher Education Participation and Partnership Program (HEPPP) to support outreach activities under Schools Access Monash (SAM). The program delivers a range of in-school and on-campus activities that allow students to engage in higher education at an early stage of their development, as well as experience university life first hand via interactive sessions.