June 18, 2007 - 7:53am
Culinary Arts students at Malaspina University-College stole the show, winning five gold medals, one silver and one bronze at a prestigious cold food culinary competition in Vancouver recently.
Student Jenny Jones won a one-week all expense paid trip to the Belcolade chocolate factory in Belgium for her best in show, gold medal creation of pralines. Other gold medals went to Sarah Cubbage (three-course menu), Ian Murphy (three-course menu, best in show), Patel Harsiddakumar (two entrees) and Atticus Garant (finger foods, second best in show). Sophia Truong and Jenny Jones brought home silver and gold medals, respectively, for their chocolate dessert and chocolate sculpture.
Malaspina’s team of 6 students and 4 chefs worked through the night in the Malaspina teaching kitchen to prepare for the competition, held at the EAT Vancouver Show, which was held in Vancouver May 26 and 27.
“The team packed the van at 3:30 am and caught the first ferry to Vancouver,” said Debbie Shore, chair of the Culinary Arts program at Malaspina. “We arrived at BC Place to set up at 8:15 am and were under the gun to get our table set up in half an hour.”
Students Sarah Cubbage, Ian Murphy, Patel Harsiddakumar and Atticus Garant all won gold medals in their first-ever cold food competition. Ian Murphy’s entry was also awarded best in show, while Garant’s creation was second best.
Malaspina Culinary Arts Chef Bill Clay arrived at BC Place Saturday night to assist students Jenny Jones and Sophia Truong on their pastry entries that were entered in the Belcolade Chocolate competition the following day.
They worked through the night in the Vancouver Pan Pacific Hotel pastry shop until 7 am, when they loaded the chocolate into the van and headed back to BC Place for the second day of competition. Jones’ chocolate sculpture was erected, and by 8:45 am, the finishing touches were applied and the judging began.
“We returned at 11:30 am and learned Sophia won silver for her dessert and Jenny won bronze for her sculpture,” said Shore.
“The best news of all was that Jenny’s pralines won the gold medal and were also ‘best in show’ which came with a trip to the Belcolade factory in Belgium for one week of training,” said Shore. “It was an amazing show. We’re very proud of our students.”
For more information, contact Malaspina’s Culinary Arts program at (250) 740-6289 or shored@viu.ca
Tags: In the Community
