TasTAFE apprentices represent Tasmania in the National Apprentice Competition (NAC) at Fine Food Australia

LEFT: Nicholas Rudeforth and ACF President Karen Doyle at Fine Food Australia RIGHT: Jacky Chiang at TasTAFE Drysdale Hobart

Three TasTAFE-trained apprentices have represented Tasmania in cookery competitions at the 2024 Fine Food Australia expo, held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) from 2–5 September.

Running for 40 years, Fine Food Australia is one of the country’s largest annual B2B food events. This year’s showcase featured 875 exhibitors, attracting thousands of food industry professionals from around the country.

Along with tastings, talks, masterclasses, conferences and food exhibits, cooking competitions added some drama to proceedings.

The National Apprentice Competition (NAC) was a key event, run by the Australian Culinary Federation (ACF) – an opportunity for chefs-in-training to boost their skills, make industry connections and have some fun on the national stage.

Nicholas Rudeforth represented Tasmania in the NAC’s Final Year Apprentice category. Nic is currently enrolled in a Certificate III Commercial Cookery at TasTAFE, whilst working at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart.

Jacky Chiang participated in the Culinary Student category: he’s currently progressing through TasTAFE’s full-time international pathway, studying a Certificate IV in Kitchen Management in Hobart.

Both Nic and Jacky had to comply with NAC’s rigorous guidelines, including clothing (traditional chef’s whites); standard ingredients from Melbourne’s iconic Victoria Markets; and the provision of typed recipes.

Across three hours, including set-up and clean-down, Nic and Jacky crafted their dishes at fully-equipped kitchen stations – all in public view, with passing crowds stopping to watch and comment.

Jacky was tasked with preparing a chicken entrée (Chinese chicken salad with herbs, cucumber and garlic dressing) and main course (French chicken fricassee with vegetables).

Nic was asked to prepare an entrée (southern-style cauliflower with pomegranate, saltbush and papaya-seed dressing); a main (orange-basted pork loin with papaya puree and fennel and pepper-berry salad); and a desert (apple tart with wattle seed, cinnamon and sugar, with spiced oat crumb and vanilla crème).

Assessment criteria included mis en place (food prep and kitchen organisation), hygiene and food waste, professional preparation (skills, methods, time management), service, presentation, and of course, taste.

“It was quite a lot of pressure to achieve all that,” Nic said, “– all while keeping your bench as clean as possible, everything stored correctly, everything labelled... Even the waste had to be labelled and separated properly.”

At the end of the day, Nic was awarded a gold medal for his efforts and placed second overall; while Jacky took home a silver medal.

Nic was very pleased with the result: “After all the hard work, it was really worth it. I honestly thought I'd not done as well as I did!”

Nic thinks his TasTAFE training set him up well for success.

“Working with Michael Norton [TasTAFE Cookery teacher] in particular, definitely helped,” he said. “He was a really good mentor. Just the little things like seasoning, tasting, serving-up on a hot plate, using the appropriate plate size… Those kinds of things are super important.”

Jacky also credited his training at TasTAFE for his success.

“Before TasTAFE I had no idea how to cook French cuisine, especially” Jacky said. “So when I was preparing for the competition, I had a better understanding of which ingredients to use: the right amount, how it should taste, the right kind of garnish to use… At TasTAFE we have the opportunity to try a lot of different foods.”

Congratulations to both Jacky and Nic on these terrific results.

Congratulations also to Meg Jessup who represented Tasmania in the finals of the Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Competition and received three bronze medals for her dishes. Meg is studying her Certificate III in Commercial Cookery at TasTAFE and working at Country Club Tasmania in Launceston.