T Level Hospitality And Catering Students Given The Skills To Become A Chef In The Army
Students from the Level 2 Professional Chef T Level Transition Programme had the amazing opportunity of hosting a guest lecture from Chefs in The Army!
During the lecture students were shown what it is like to be a Chef within The Army and how they can get involved. After being split into teams, learners were then poised with the challenge of making a 3-course meal for 2 people out of ration packs! They were given 10 minutes to menu plan and a further 1 hour 30 minutes to prepare and cook.
The learners produced innovative and amazing meals such as broccoli and onion soup, mince beef and onion pie with mash potato, cookie bread and butter pudding and homemade garlic gnocchi!
Teams were then judged by the Seargent's and were scored on Best Starter, Best Main Meal, Best Dessert, and an Overall Winner.
Team 3 won Best Starter with their broccoli mac and cheese with garlic bread, Team 2 won Best Main Course with the homemade pasta and meatballs and Team 1 won Best Dessert with their cookie bread and butter pudding. But the overall winner of the challenge for their performance, communication skills, teamwork and presentation were Team 2!
Learner Crystal, comments “It was really fun, but at the same time hard because you only had 1 hour and 30 mins for a three-course meal! I found it very challenging, but I really enjoyed the whole event!”
Hospitality and Catering lecturer Debbie says, “I am so proud of the group here today they did extremely well and were amazing. They did the me and the college proud today even the Army Sergeants said we should be proud of all the students today."
As a part of the Hospitality and Catering Career Excellence Hub, learners are given the opportunity to gain employability skills from employers and gain real life skills that they can take on into their careers. Within the new T Level course, students can learn about the catering and hospitality industry, food, and safety hygiene in the kitchen, menu planning and costing and preparing all different foods. Alongside the course students will gain a full understanding of the industry by completing a Level 2 food and beverage service during their Individual Development (ID) time.
Sandra Bull, Divisional Lead of Hospitality and Catering, says “Ensuring our learners have an opportunity to seek out a variety of career pathways is important as they developed both skills and confidence in their programme of study. This session was a challenge which demonstrated how they would need to adapt quickly for a career in the Army but resilience in a working environment. The group have discovered you can eat well even out of ration pack ingredients!”
