As part of their major assessment task this term, the Year 10 classes had to plan, produce and present a variety of International savoury and sweet food items that could be sold “on the street”.
Food items were chosen based on what teenagers like, their nutritional value, cost-effectiveness and whether they were sustainable. Another aim of the task was for students to experience the fast-paced commercial kitchen environment.
These are some of the student’s comments from their experiences:
Levi: “For the International Food Day, our group cooked pavlovas. We prepared the bases earlier in the week. On the day we were allocated to complete different tasks in the commercial kitchen. I cleaned and made rolls of sushi. It was a very fun day and from what I have heard all of the food was sold and well received by fellow students. I hope this day is continued into the future and maybe some of the Year 10 Food students will choose to do the Hospitality course next year.”
Sam: “From the experience of working in the commercial kitchen I have learnt several things. It is quite different from regular food classes in that you must take more steps in preparing the food and serving it. Because we were cooking for the public, we needed to follow extra care and hygiene. We also needed to have far more abundance of food due to how many people we were serving. Being in the commercial kitchen was stressful but, in the end, it was fun and gave me a good idea of what Hospitality would be like next year.”
April: “On Thursday we had the International Street Food Day where we all cooked a variety of different foods that usually wouldn’t be served in the Cafe. I cooked in kitchen 4 making Pides with two different fillings- spinach and ricotta and spicy meat. Gabby and I prepared the dough and rolled cookies while we waited for the dough to rise. After recess we started rolling out small balls of dough for the filling; others filled and wrapped the Pides and topped them with cheese. The Pides were baked and served on chafing dishes. While others were up in the Cafe serving, myself and some other students stayed back in the kitchen to clean up and wash dishes. I found the experience to be chaotic and busy, however, very fun and enjoyable.”
Charlotte & Ryan: “On Thursday 12 November the two Year 10 food classes got the opportunity to spend the day preparing and cooking food in the commercial kitchen. We were originally tasked with creating different International street food dishes – my group were assigned Pad Thai. Along with creating the Pad Thai, we got the full experience of everything we had to learn. We folded wraps, cut up food for fruit salads, retrieved ingredients from the ‘cold room’ and made the well-loved ‘Brookies’.”
“Being in this environment with the professional chefs was much more stressful and crazier than I ever anticipated it to be. Everything had to be done so precisely and so quickly. The experience was difficult, but we left with several valuable lessons learnt. We got to experience what it was like being in a high-pressure job where you have to constantly focus, and make sure everything was as close to perfect as possible – there was no slacking off for us. We also learnt that it was okay to make mistakes. We made many mistakes, but they helped us to learn what to do next time. It was really great to see how everyone was working together to help get the food out to the customers, everyone played their part and the teamwork displayed was incredible. Overall the experience was crazy, but a valuable one that we will really cherish and use in the future. If anyone is thinking of doing Hospitality in the future, go for it! It is an experience unlike anything else you will get in school, and it is well worth the effort.”
Mrs Anna Cardillo- Rawlins
Hospitality/ Home Economics Teacher