ITE’s Culinary Students Develop Recipes For Unconsumed Food At Home [Press Release]

Homemakers can turn unconsumed food into a new dish instead of throwing them away

Singapore, 17 Oct 2016 – Zero Waste SG and ITE College West are co-organising the inaugural “Save Food Cut Waste” Recipes Competition 2016 for ITE’s culinary students to develop recipes for unconsumed food at home. Sheng Siong is the Food Sponsor and the National Environment Agency (NEA) is the Supporting Partner for this competition.

Families who prepare and cook food at home often have unconsumed food after their meals and end up throwing them away. A survey conducted by NEA last year found that 80% of participants prepare food at home, and 39% of those who prepare food at home have unconsumed food after a meal.

Therefore, the objective of this competition is to develop suitable recipes to help homemakers learn and cook their unconsumed food into another dish the next day, instead of throwing them away. More importantly, this competition would educate the culinary students about the problem of food waste and to be mindful about not wasting food when they are working in the food and beverage industry in the future.

Mr Eugene Tay, Executive Director of Zero Waste SG, said, “This inaugural recipes competition would help to inculcate the message of food waste reduction in the culinary students, and also gives homemakers more options to turn unconsumed food at home into new dishes.”

Dr Goh Mong Song, Principal, ITE College West, said, “We are happy that our culinary students can use their skills to help households save food and reduce food waste. Through this process, they have also sharpened their cooking skills by creating innovative recipes. We hope that this experience will help them remember the importance of saving food, especially when they enter the industry in the future.”

The recipes competition focuses on common unconsumed food at home, including ingredients such as cooked white rice, cooked chicken, and excess bread, vegetables and fruits. In line with the message of not wasting food, the food ingredients sponsored by Sheng Siong are nearer their expiry dates where possible. Vegetables and fruits that look “ugly” or have blemishes are also used for the cooking competition to highlight that those food are still edible after cooking.

Ms Lin Ruiwen, Director of Sheng Siong Supermarket, said, “The journey from farm to fork is not an easy one, and should never be taken for granted. Not all fresh produce can be perfect looking, but small blemishes can definitely be tolerated. With better understanding of the characteristics of fresh produce, storage and handling of fresh produce, and higher tolerance for cosmetics defects, we can definitely contribute to reducing food waste.”

Competition Details

The competition is open to ITE College West culinary students and has 2 rounds – submission of recipes in the Qualifying Round and cooking with the recipes in the Final Round.

During the Qualifying Round from 15 Sep to 6 Oct 2016, each group consisting of 2 students developed an original recipe for common unconsumed food at home. The recipe had to include at least 3 food ingredients from the following types of unconsumed food at home:

• Unconsumed Cooked White Rice
• Unconsumed Cooked Chicken Wings
• Unconsumed Cooked Chicken Fillet (breast meat)
• Unconsumed Cooked Cai Xin
• Excess Uncooked Carrot
• Excess Uncooked Tomatoes
• Excess Apples
• Excess Oranges
• Excess White Bread

The groups submitted their recipe with a photo of the dish, and the judges selected 18 groups to enter the Final Round based on the following criteria:

• Use of Ingredients (20%): at least 3 ingredients from the list of common unconsumed food at home
• Creativity (40%): good use of ingredients and creativity of the dish
• Presentation (40%): plating of food to ensure an appetising appearance

The Final Round will be held on 21 Oct 2016 (1-5pm), and the 18 groups will prepare and cook their recipe dishes with the food ingredients provided in the kitchen. Each group has 2 hours to prepare and cook their recipe dish for the judges to taste. The 3 judges are from ITE College West, Zero Waste SG, and NEA. The judging criteria include:

• Taste (40%): taste and flavour of dish is preserved; has appropriate seasoning; colour, consistency and texture
• Creativity and Presentation (40%): dish is presented in its correct temperature; creativity of the dish is presented; plating of food to ensure an appetising appearance
• Misc-en-place, Hygiene and Safety (20%): Good workflow and hygiene; correct utilisation of time and teamwork; clean proper working method and no wastage

The top 3 groups would be awarded with cash prizes and plaques. After the competition, the recipes and photos from the Qualifying and Final Rounds would be selected and posted at the Save Food Cut Waste website (http://www.savefoodcutwaste.com/recipes) and social media channels, and are available for the public to learn and cook their unconsumed food at home. In addition, an exhibition of the recipes would be held in the library at ITE College West to showcase the work of the students.