 Welcome to interview a production of the Government Information Service. I am Jolene B. Set-Joseph. The Chefs in Schools Cook-Off Competition is an initiative of the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association, since its conception, the aim of the initiative, is to aid in providing guidance to food and nutrition students from industry chefs. Now on the run-up to the competition, GIS has had a range of interviews with the schools who will be participating in the Cook-Off Competition. The competition was held on the 13th and 14th of June, respectively, and they had to tell us a little bit about the results and how this year's competition went. Is Mr. Wendell George, who is the Tourism Enhancement Fund project coordinator at the SLHDA. Thank you for joining us today, Wendell. Hi. Thank you very much. Okay. So tell me a little bit about this year's competition. On a whole, very generally, how do you think it went? The competition was, I would say, in one word, awesome. And also exciting. I mean, we had a beautiful audience. We had ten schools in the competition, and each of the schools we had supporters. Teachers came out to view and see the event. Like you know, it's two rounds of competition. The students, they train for, well, they practice based on their signature dish, and also they were expecting the mystery baskets round as well. The two rounds were very exciting. I mean, it's one thing seeing it on television or seeing it from somebody's smartphone who recorded it, but it's something else when you're in the audience and you're seeing it right there. The students under pressure, they're working against time, and I mean, it's just something different and something to experience. So all in all, it was a really, really good experience for the students, the teachers, the chefs who trained them as well, and for everyone who was part of the event and the sponsors as well. Okay, brilliant. Now, tell me a little bit about what the results were for this year. Who came for the second round? So this year, in the first round of the competition, the Souffre Compris had the highest points. So the schools who actually came in second was convent. That's in the first round of the competition. In the second round of the competition, the St. Joseph's convent, they topped that round, and Souffre Compris came in second. But what the competition is, what we do, we add both the points from both rounds. Since Souffre Compris had much more points in the first round, overall, when we added the points, Souffre Compris is the overall champion and the overall winner for this year. So Souffre Compris, they were the champions for 2019, followed by St. Joseph's convent, who came in second, and the Leonhurst Secondary School came in third. So we awarded the top three schools. The dishes were just something of, oh, you know, something to be, I mean, because the thing is these students, when I compare them to the senior chefs working in the industry already, they, these students, put these guys to shame. I mean the level of professionalism in two months of training. So just imagine if they had more time to train, more time to be exposed to the kitchen and the different formats and techniques of cooking and so on. They could do a lot more. So it just goes to show how much this experience and the training can develop the aspiring cooks from the school around the island. So I want to say congratulations to the Souffre Compris Secondary School. Those persons who came in second and just generally all the students who competed and made this event what it was this year. Now you were talking about the high standard within the competition. Do you believe that, I mean, it's an annual thing. So have you seen as you have progressed with the competition that the level of ability has grown throughout the years, do you believe that's happened? Definitely. Because what the hotels do, every year they give a different chef the opportunity to train students. And so every year you see a different level of expertise and techniques and so on. So I mean, generally the chefs from the hotels themselves, as time goes by, they grow. The techniques become better. So they pass it on to the students as well. So definitely as the competition progresses, as it gets better every year, the whole experience, the whole competition, the students will learn more because there's a lot more information out there. There's a lot more programs. There's Instagram, there's Facebook where they can get all the techniques, they can see videos live, they can watch food network channels and so on. So our young millennials right now, they're exposed to all the information. It's right there in front of them and it's free. You can learn anything via YouTube. If you never knew how to make a chocolate cake or you have to do just type it in and find it on YouTube. I've made stuff just by typing on YouTube. Any little thing. You can even make your own sodas using our own local ingredients and just adding some soda water and stuff to give that little sparkle and stuff. So it's just amazing that everything that you want to learn is right there in front of you. It's just how passionate you are about it and how bad do you really want to learn. There's a lot more to talk about but we're going to go to a commercial break now. So when we come back, we'll carry on this conversation about how the competition went this year. But stay with us, we'll be right back. One of the eight university-recognized rights of the consumer is the right to be heard. This means that every consumer who is dissatisfied with a good or service has the right to lodge a complaint to the provider of that good or that service. This should be the first point of lodging a complaint. Ensure that the receipt, as proof of the transaction, is available. Welcome back to Interview. I'm Jolene V. Setjoseph and I am joined by Wendell George of the SNHDA who's telling us a little bit about how the chef's in school's cook-off competition went this year. Now Wendell, we're talking about the high standards and everything that the participants showed throughout the competition. What exactly is it that the judges actually look for in the competition, however though? Well, the judges looked for just four general different criteria. First of all, presentation, because sometimes, based on how the food looks, it can be appealing or not really appealing. So presentation is key as well. The food temperature, techniques, knife skills, and also sanitation, which is very important in those types of events. So those are the general criterias that the judges were looking for. We had five judges this year, split in two days. On the first day, we had Chef Ricardo Alexander from the Hotel Chocolat. We had Chef Rifa Leos from Sandoval Sotok, and we also had Chef Orlando Sashel from Orlando's in Souffre. On the second day, we had Kevin White, who's the owner of Crown Foods. Rifa Leos also helped us out on the second day as well. Then we had Chef Mario Marshall, who was a former chef at Sandoval Sotok and Royalton. But now he works for himself. So those are the judges who really helped out for those two days of the competition. Okay, brilliant. Now again, we talked about the high stand and everything. Was there anything like what made the, especially maybe I should say the top two stand out for the judges? Is it that they pulled something unbelievable out of their hat? What did they do to really make sure they got those positions? I think it's everything in terms of the way they work together, the teamwork, the way they synchronize, the way they, the techniques that they use, the plating, and just generally the whole competition for the two first place. Because they really put on a good show and their dishes taste really, really good. It's not easy for them and for the chef sometimes, their coach, to just get an ingredient or particular protein mixed with a Winfresh product, for example, because Winfresh was the sponsor this year. So they would have to use probably a Winfresh hot sauce or a Winfresh tamarind marinade and you would have to use that and create a beautiful dish out of it. It's the first time the students would be using the product, they have to use the right amount and use it innovatively. So I think they also get extra points for using those products innovatively. So it added a twist to the competition, having Winfresh on board and I also want to say thank you to Winfresh too for coming on board this year for the events. So I think generally that's what really made the two, the three top schools stand out. Generally all the techniques, food presentation and the use of the product in the food. Now I know in your capacity at the SLHDA you have also worked somewhat in the kind of a training capacity whereas you make sure that young people get training in such legs. So in your opinion, how important do you think a competition like this is for young people to partake in? It is extremely important because if we don't, who's going to? We're in an industry that is growing every day. The trend changes and we need to adapt to the new trends that are coming and if we don't expose our students, our young aspiring hospitality professionals to those types of training then we put them at a disadvantage and also the industry at a disadvantage because when our clients come, our guests come, they expect a certain experience and a certain product and they're not getting that based on what is advertised and so on. So I think it's important that SLHDA continues to play that vital role in the training and development of our human resources in St. Lucia. That's important not just for hospitality, generally for all industries because all the other industries out there play a vital role in tourism as well. They're all linked so I mean from construction to IT to agriculture, they all play a vital role in tourism and it's important that we continue to build that linkage and to strengthen it and make the industry generally better. Okay, all right. Now we're running out of time but very generally, can you just tell me where do you think that SLHDA want to go with the competition? Is it a standard that you think they'll be happy for it to continue at or do you see the competition growing still? I think the competition will definitely grow and as the interest from various schools begin to increase, the SLHDA will be obligated to make the event better and better because I mean you wouldn't want to bring a competition to a certain standard and then drop. Right. I mean it's, I just feel that we need to continue on that trajectory. We at SLHDA, we have maintained a certain standard and it is also part of our mandate to continue to do those types of events, continue to train our young people because there's a growing interest in tourism in culinary arts, surprisingly nowadays and I would definitely encourage you know persons to give it a try, don't be shy, don't be afraid. The opportunities are limitless and I think that tourism has a lot to offer, if we play our cards right. Okay. But Wendell, thank you so much for joining us today, it's always a pleasure to have you on. Thank you for being a part of the interview for today, however, from us here, bye-bye for now. Thank you.