Minister issues call to province's top catering students

Employment Minister Carmel Hanna has called on the province's aspiring young chefs to take part in a prestigious competition aimed at celebrating the skills of Northern Ireland’s catering industry.

The IFEX Salon Culinaire, a series of competitions covering the preparation and presentation of food, is due to take place in April at the Kings Hall complex in Belfast.

Mrs Hanna officially launched the competition during a visit to the Upper Bann Institute for Further and Higher Education in Portadown, where she saw catering students preparing a variety of dishes.

Appealing for entrants to come forward, she said: “Tourism and hospitality is one of the key sectors identified by the Northern Ireland Skills Task Force as having a vast potential to grow and help expand and strengthen the local economy in line with Strategy 2010 and the Programme for Government.

“To succeed we must be able to deliver a world-class product and the most effective way of achieving this quality is for the industry to have well-trained and enthusiastic staff at all levels. I believe that through the IFEX Salon.

Culinaire we can encourage the practice of professional standards, raise the profile of the industry and promote the profession to young people."

The competition has also been welcomed by Mr Vincent McKenna, chairman of the Northern Ireland Chefs and Cooks Association, who said the IFEX Salon Culinaire would encourage and inspire young chefs through competition and training, enhancing the culinary prestige of local chefs as well as local produce.

This year’s IFEX Salon Culinaire has been expanded to include an even wider range of competitions to reflect the increasing sophistication of the catering industry.

As well as competitions, in nearly 20 classes for food preparation and presentation, a number of new ones have been added. These include sausage oscars, categories for bakery products, a gourmet sandwich competition, a butchery masterclass and a cocktail competition. (CL)