North city: Youngsters get a taste of cooking under pressure

Matthew SparkesA cookery competition in the style of BBC2's Ready Steady Cook has been held at Sewell Park College to encourage students to eat healthily.Matthew Sparkes

A cookery competition in the style of BBC2's Ready Steady Cook was held at Sewell Park College to encourage students to eat healthily.

Called Ready Steady on your Marks, the event saw a small group of students split into two teams.

Each team was given different ingredients and had to create a healthy and well-balanced nutritional meal while being watched by the rest of the school.

Both teams consisted of two students and a teacher, and they had only 15 minutes to produce a dish.

The green team was handed only vegetarian ingredients and they chose to make a red and green pepper spinach and chickpea balti with spiced potatoes and pilau rice.

The red team were given meat in their bundle of ingredients and cooked a chicken breast fillet with a tomato and basil ragout with pasta and seasonal greens.

Kim Murray, catering manager with the school's catering contractors and the team's mentor at the event, said that it had been 'a great way to involve not only students but the teaching staff as well.' 'It's all part of a boost to promote interest in cooking, healthy eating and generally to get the students involved not only to learn but to enjoy the experience too.'

Once the meals had been prepared the student audience got to vote on the winning team by raising coloured cards, and the green team took the victory.