Eight teams comprising two students each from institutions including Institute of Technical Education Singapore, Temasek Culinary Academy and Shatec Institutes took part in the competition. Inspired by the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Singapore next year, each of the teams were challenged to incorporate elements from a continent allocated to them. The teams came up with innovative and nutritious dishes using Norwegian salmon as the main ingredient.
In addition to the competition, a series of seminars were held at the three culinary institutes aiming to deepen the product knowledge about Norwegian salmon along with its proper handling techniques as well as its nutritional value and versatility.
Creasperson A Carlos and Melissa Liew Sau Mei from Shatec Institutes emerged as the proud champions of the competition, successfully pulling off ambitious dishes. The all-female team collected their well-deserved award from the Norwegian Ambassador, Janne Juslrud, – an all expenses paid 5D4N trip to World Expo 2010 Shanghai China. When asked about her thoughts on winning, Carlos shared “I’m truly shocked and happy. I couldn’t hold back my tears because to be honest, we didn’t think we’ll win. We were given one of the hardest continents and we had to get some of our ingredients from Africa to make sure that our dishes were authentic”.
First runner-up Temasek Torques, consisting of members Sean Lim Xin Hong and Aletheia Heah Shu Qing and second runner-up Temasek Commis, consisting of members Calvin Tan Qian Heng and Piak Jia Ying from Temasek Culinary Academy performed commendably as well. They won cash prizes of S$500 and S$300 respectively. Overall, the competition proved to be a tremendous success and it was indeed inspiring to witness the passion and dedication of the young chefs at the competition.
For more information about Norwegian salmon, please visit www.seafoodfromnorway.com