Students from secondary schools in Cork, Limerick and Kerry took part in the finals of the 2015 Munster Apprentice Chef Project Final, sponsored by Flogas Ireland and Failte Ireland on 8 May at IT Tralee.
Stephanie Kearney of Colaiste Mhuire in Buttevant, Cork took the top prize and was presented with a €1,000 voucher for her school, as well as a monogrammed chef’s uniform.
She also won an internship with head chef Simon Regan of the 5-star Hotel Europe in Killarney and a copy of Just Cooking by project co-founder Mark Doe. Stephanie’s school will also receive a one-day cookery workshop from the Apprentice Chef culinary team.
In second place was Brandon Moran from Colaiste na Sceilge, Cahircivee. Joint third were Charlotte Hall, Midleton College, Cork and Laura Stack of Hazelwood College, Dromcollogher, Limerick.
This marks the third year of the Munster Apprentice Chef, which was established by Mark Doe of justcooking.ie and Mark Murphy, senior lecturer in Culinary Arts at IT Tralee.
Kearney commented, “I entered because I wanted to find out more about a career as a professional chef and learn more about healthy food and ingredients.
“The mentoring that I received from chef Mark Doe was fantastic and I loved working in a busy professional kitchen,” she added.
Co-founder Mark Murphy commented that over 1,200 secondary school students have attended culinary mentoring workshops at IT Tralee as part of the Munster Apprentice Chef project, which is just part of a three-year strategy to target 60 schools across Munster.
Mark Doe added, “Another aim of the project is to promote the advantages of locally sourced food from health and economic perspectives, and how this can also benefit the local economy by keeping jobs in the region.
“Accordingly, a huge vote of thanks to our sponsors Flogas Ireland and Failte Ireland for their support to date and we’re looking forward to building on its success in the coming years,” he concluded.
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Jenny Whelan.
