Sausage-making is child’s play
Four budding young chefs from Bishop’s Waltham Junior School had the opportunity to try their hand at sausage-making last week after the menu they designed, incorporating local produce, won the top prize in a competition.
Thirty teams of four from years 5 and 6 had designed a two-course local menu, taking inspiration from a tasting session held at the school by local Home Economist Davina Tibbetts and The Southern Co-operative store manager Sam Freemantle. This workshop had also taught the children about sustainability, food miles and shopping locally and seasonally.
The menus were judged by Piccola Roma restaurant owner Charlie Anzano, Bishop’s Waltham Butcher Pete Hoff, Sam Freemantle and Market Towns Development Officer, Heidi Isa.
Heidi said:
I was enormously impressed not only by how the children had incorporated local produce into their dishes, but also with how they had combined the flavours into some very tasty-sounding dishes. It made the judging incredibly difficult.
The winning menu was designed by Anna Stimpson, Kayleigh Ruff, Amy Hill and Libby Hughes, all from year 5, and it was their creative use of local ingredients which impressed the judges.
The prize for the winners included the sausage-making lesson at Bishop’s Waltham Butchers, where the children were also able to make the pork and apple burgers which had been the central part of their winning main course.
The hands-on session at the butcher’s was followed by a visit to Piccola Roma where the young people were able to watch their concept menu turned into reality in the kitchen. Naturally the children and their teaching assistant, Jeanette Mars, were also given the opportunity to taste the menu for themselves in a celebratory lunch.
Davina Tibbetts said:
The competition really encouraged the children to think about where food comes from, food miles, and the community. Working together in teams, they really enjoyed creating their inspirational menus.
The competition formed part of a collaborative project between The Southern Co-operative and Winchester City Council’s Market Towns Development initiative. With a store in each of the market towns covered by the initiative (Alresford, Bishop’s Waltham, Denmead and Wickham) and clear crossover in aims for the community and raising the profile of local food producers, The Southern Co-operative is supporting specific projects being undertaken by the Market Towns Development Officer.
As well as financial support, colleagues from The Southern Co-operative will get involved in projects such as Apple Days in Alresford and Denmead, “Taste of Wickham” festival in Wickham and further food and community projects in Bishop’s Waltham.