Spey­side High School emerged as re­gion­al champs in the To­ba­go leg of T&T's Best High School Chef, the in­no­v­a­tive new culi­nary com­pe­ti­tion for sec­ondary schools.The con­test was con­cep­tu­alised and co­or­di­nat­ed by chef Kirk O'Neil Lewis, and is en­dorsed by the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion. The To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly, Tourism De­vel­op­ment Com­pa­ny, and Unilever Caribbean Ltd-Blue Band were among the ma­jor spon­sors.

One mem­ber of the win­ning Spey­side team re­marked, "I'm so hap­py to com­pete in some­thing that I re­al­ly en­joy do­ing. There are school com­pe­ti­tions in all oth­er ar­eas ex­cept cook­ing, so I'm hap­py that chef Lewis and the com­mit­tee in­tro­duced this pro­gramme in time for me to take part."The com­pe­ti­tion took place at the To­ba­go Hos­pi­tal­i­ty and Tourism In­sti­tute on June 12.Each team of five form four stu­dents had to pre­pare and dis­play a three-course lunch menu in 90 min­utes, to be judged by culi­nary pro­fes­sion­als.

The teams put on a spec­tac­u­lar show for the many spec­ta­tors in at­ten­dance, of­fer­ing such ex­ot­ic fare as Chick­en Lickin in Tamarind Dress and Fly­ing Fish Souse. In the end, how­ev­er, Spey­side walked away with first place, with Ma­son Hall Sec­ondary com­ing sec­ond and Good­wood Sec­ondary plac­ing third.The spec­ta­tors were giv­en the wel­come priv­i­lege of sam­pling the stu­dents' cre­ations at the end of the pro­gramme.Co­or­di­na­tor of the com­pe­ti­tion, chef Lewis said, "I am re­al­ly im­pressed with the dish­es cre­at­ed by the stu­dents.

It just proves to me what I was think­ing all along: that stu­dents have a lot of tal­ent, and all they need is an op­por­tu­ni­ty to show off their skills."The Trinidad leg of T&T's Best High School Chef is card­ed for Ju­ly 18. Chef Lewis and the judges are ex­pect­ing a grand per­for­mance by the in­vit­ed teams.For more in­for­ma­tion about the com­pe­ti­tion, check out the T&T's Best High School Chef Face­book page, or call chef Lewis at 762-2915