Eastleigh College recently sent seven Hospitality and Catering students to the annual Wessex Salon Culinaire Competition hosted at Central Bedfordshire College in Dunstable, picking up a staggering 17 awards.
The Wessex Salon Culinaire is one of the UK’s largest live culinary competitions, and is held in association with The Craft Guild of Chefs and World Skills UK. The competition was split into five categories: Live Hot, Live Cold, Restaurant, Display and Wessex Bake Off. In each category, students were instructed to create a particular dish or demonstrate a skill within a time frame.
Eastleigh College students competed against industry professionals and other colleges in several categories, including the Wessex Bake Off which involved creating novelty cakes, floral arrangements and afternoon tea pastries.
The day was a massive success, with every student coming away with an award from a Certificate of Merit to a Gold award. This was the first time Level 1 Hospitality and Catering student Cameron Ackers had competed at the Wessex Salon Culinaire, and he was pleased to have received a Silver award for both his Fish Fileting and Bakery skills.
He said, “The competition was enjoyable, and really well organised. It’s was useful to see what other chefs were doing and learn from them. I’d like to compete again next year in the same categories to see how I’ve improved.”
Overall this was a fantastic opportunity for the Catering & Hospitality students to take part in an industry-led event, improve their culinary skills, and more importantly be rewarded for their hard work and determination.
The full list of awards for Eastleigh College is as follows:
Certificate of Merit
Sophie Padwick
Jack Bryant
Ashesh Purja
Bronze
Shannon Foreman
Katie Woodford
Talya Sewell
Silver
Talya Sewell
Donovan Malone
Ashesh Purja
Cameron Ackers
Gold
Donovan Malone
We are delighted to have been recognised by The Times Education Awards for the support we provide to students who need to re-sit their GCSEs after leaving school. The excellent results our students achieved last summer include more than twice the national average gaining a maths GCSE, testament to the dedicated team of teachers who use innovative approaches and techniques to inspire our learners.
Young chefs and hospitality students from Eastleigh College were joined by other competitors from training providers across the south to take part in the southern regional heat of an established national competition. The Major Series 2020, which is organised by Major International in conjunction with the Craft Guild of Chefs, saw 50 competitors take over Eastleigh College's three professional kitchens and East Avenue restaurant and work their culinary majic across ten different classes from 'afternoon tea' to 'street food'.