It was a mouth-watering affair when the Faculty of Management Sciences’ Department of Hospitality and Tourism at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) hosted the McCain Cook-Off Competition on Thursday, 12 October 2023 at the DUT Hotel School, Ritson campus in Durban.
Nine Catering Management third-year students, currently pursuing their Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) at the DUT Hotel School, battled it out to see who could impress the judges with their cooking skills. The judging panel consisted of representatives from Bidfood and the International Hotel School.
The Head of the Department for Hospitality and Tourism at DUT, Dr Erasmus Mnguni, delivered the welcome address thanking the frozen food company, McCain for choosing to work with DUT’s Department of Hospitality and Tourism.
The contestants had one hour to prepare a starter and main course dish. The judges walked from station to station assessing the aspirant chefs as they prepared their meals in the school’s kitchen.
Fezile Mkhize, was announced as the day’s winner after preparing an appetizing stir-fry dish. Excited about the opportunity to participate in the competition she said: “The competition came as a surprise to us. However, when our lecturer first told us about the event, we took this opportunity with both hands and researched the recipes because each candidate had to prepare their meal. Therefore, when they told us that we would be using McCain products, the first thing that came to my mind was to cook a stir-fry because it allowed me to use many of their products to come up with this moreish dish.”
Ms Philile Ndwalane, McCain Foods representative in KwaZulu-Natal, said one of the main reasons for collaborating with DUT was to motivate the young chefs’ to be innovative.
“These chefs will not just be working at restaurants and hotels locally, but they will perhaps go abroad. Therefore, it is all about flying the McCain brand high and motivating these young chefs to use our products, more especially our veggies because we froze them at their freshest. We take them straight from the soil, peel them, chop them, and put them in the fridge. So, yeah, that is the kind of message we want to drive because this peeling and chopping consumes a lot of time,” added Ms Ndwalane.
Chef Siyabonga Duma, a former DUT lecturer of 20 years who was one of the judges was left impressed with the performance of the students and the creativity they brought into the kitchen.
“Your work was a good progression and also we were impressed about how you managed to be creative with the convenient products. McCain is a convenient product which gives us very limited space to be creative because it’s already done for you,” said Duma addressing the students before the winner announcement.
The students were scored on timing, hygiene, uniform, teamwork, taste and presentation.
Pictured: The contestants and guests at the McCain Cook-Off.
Photographer: Bheka Nxumalo
Skhumbuzo Mdunge
