STUDENT NEWS

Two contestant's race to whip up a meal in under 45 mins.

Healthy Living Week ‘cook-off’ – a great success at Oadby Student Village

Residential and Commercial Services launch an exciting new project designed to create a very different dimension to student catering.

Issued on 20 November 2009

To really bring Healthy Living Week to life, the Oadby Student Village hospitality team hosted a ‘cook-off’ competition which saw four teams of two contestants battle against the clock to whip up a healthy two course meal.

The theme of the event was to show students how to produce a quick, tasty and healthy meal within a tight budget of around £3.50. The fun part of the evening came when everything had to be completed against the clock in 45 minutes!

Typical dishes and recipes produced included pork medallion with apple and cheese crust; low fat macaroni cheese; strawberry smoothie and fresh apple tart.

A panel of four judges oversaw the event with much interest and were equally impressed with the enthusiasm from all the students and especially the quality of dishes produced. One of the Judges was Clive Williams, Food and Beverage Manager for Oadby Student Village who comments ‘it was great to see the students really engaging with healthy eating whilst having a lot of fun at the same time. We have several more activities planned throughout the academic year to continue the success of the first cook-off event’. The leader of the winning team was Emmy Hickes who produced a chicken and citrus stir-fry. Other contestants included Ajit Swetha, Victoria Senior and Matthew Corbin.

As well as being part of Healthy Living Week in Oadby which ran from 16th to 20th November, the cook-off event was filmed as part of the University’s participation with ‘studentcooking.tv’ (www.studentcooking.tv ). This is a new website aimed at providing students with a wealth of information and interactive fun focusing on healthy living, managing shopping budgets and finding the best places to shop for quality food at low prices.

All students are being invited to participate in further studentcooking.tv events which are being planned throughout the year. The next event will be held within City Living and will have an international flavour. Different teams will be asked to cook a dish that will tap into the many different culinary styles found throughout the world.

Regarding Healthy Living Week, Clive Williams comments ‘the interest from students was excellent throughout Oadby Student Village. Each dining room featured menus designed so that students were able to try different foods they would not normally buy or cook themselves. To encourage feedback we held a raffle with the entry based on feedback questionnaires submitted by students’.

For further information please contact racs-hospitality@le.ac.uk

Press release issued by Trevor Miller, University of Leicester Conference Sales and Events Office, Stamford Hall, Stoughton Drive South, Leicester LE2 2ND