Year 10 students at Mercedes College were fortunate to have a group of chefs from Crown Perth visit the school this week (Wednesday, July 3) as part of the Prepare Produce Provide program.
The program is part of an innovative, community-based project developed by the Home Economics Institute of Australia Inc in partnership with Crown Perth to provide meals to people in need.
Schools were invited to apply to be a part of the program which aims to value add to rescued, donated, surplus and local produce to develop nutritious meals.
Teachers, students, industry chefs and apprentice chefs worked together to plan and produce menus so that the students could produce the meals with food donated by Foodbank.
During term two, students from the pilot schools, under the guidance of their teachers, have prepared 5,000 meals which have been provided back to Foodbank to be distributed to those less fortunate.
At the end of the program chefs visited each of the schools to mentor students in the preparation of a special meal.
Ms Joanne Harrington, Head of Food & Technology, said that although students felt a little daunted by the chefs’ presence during their visit, they relished every moment.
Student Gabrielle Ramsay said it was fantastic having the chefs in the kitchen with them helping them with the preparation of their meal, offering tips and advice along the way.
“There was quite a bit of pressure, but it was also great fun.”
The students enjoyed sitting down with the chefs to taste the food they had prepared before travelling back to Crown Perth to participate in “The Live to Tell your Story Expo”.
The expo is a celebration of all of the work that has been done for the project and an educational opportunity for students to engage with local producers and keynote speakers.
The program was able to run with the assistance of major sponsors including Crown Perth, FutureNow, CCI Apprenticeship Solutions, Foodbank, and WA Home Economics Institute of Australia (WA Division).