Anyone for seconds…in the country

A Plymouth school chef has taken second place in the prestigious School Chef of the year competition organised by the Lead Association for Catering in Education  (LACA).

Sharon Cundell is the kitchen manager at St Edwards C of E Primary School and works for CATERed, the newly formed local authority trading co-operative company which is 49 per cent owned by schools and 51 per cent by the council.

After winning the regional stage of the competition hosted at City College Plymouth back in February, Sharon took part in the National Final last week, competing against nine other school chefs.

School Chef of the Year is a dedicated culinary competition especially tailored to the school meals industry. The chefs are put through their paces testing their preparation, cooking, creativity, technical ability and presentation skills.

They have just 90 minutes and a budget of £1.60 to produce a healthy balanced two- course meal that would appeal to Primary School pupils.

Managing Director of CATERed  Brad Pearce said: “We are immensely proud of Sharon and what she has achieved and just goes to show the high level of skill we expect from our school chefs.

"To get to the finals was a real achievement and Sharon was cooking on gas when she designed and cooked her tasty Thai influenced main dish and Caribbean dessert!

"She was an asset to CATERed during the competition and won Highly Commended Dessert for her Tastebud Tingling Lime and Coconut Loaf, making her joint second overall in the whole competition!"