There are several culinary schools in Sydney for aspiring chefs. Most of them are two-year colleges, drawing students from all over the world to learn practical cooking techniques. I recently went to a cooking experience hosted by one of these schools.
I heard about it from a friend who invited me to go. The venue was a bit outside of central Sydney, at a beautiful culinary school surrounded by lush park areas. The peaceful surroundings away from the city created a feeling of calm even before entering the building.
The event combined a cooking experience with a competition. The event my friend was hosting involved dividing participants into groups and having them all cook something with the same ingredients under a time limit. Chefs at the school would then taste the finished dishes and judge them overall based on flavor, balance, creativity, presentation, and so on. There was so much anticipation and excitement—just like a TV cooking competition!
My group was quite international, with Japanese, Australian, and Thai members. We all came with our different cultural backgrounds around food, but amazingly, naturally fell into our roles and began cooking while communicating with a mix of English and hand gestures.
The theme was Italian, and we made a main dish of risotto along with an appetizer and tiramisu for dessert. I was in charge of the dessert, so I made the tiramisu. The ingredients were the same for every team, so they were judging us on the finer points such as amount, size, balance among the layers, and presentation. Even using the same ingredients, it was fascinating to see how completely different each team’s dishes came out.
Once the food was ready, we arranged it beautifully on plates and set the table to finish. The participants were allowed to try whatever was left over from each other’s creations at the end. I was amazed at how different every dish tasted! The flavor of the risotto in particular completely changed depending on how much salt was added, how the ingredients were chopped, and how long it was cooked. Each dish was so unique that you would never have guessed that they were made with the same things.
How did we do? My team actually won! We were so shocked and happy, we went crazy! We got gift certificates, wine, and discounts on classes at the college. What a wonderful surprise.
Culinary colleges have a reputation for being serious places of study, but this experience was a valuable and lighthearted opportunity for me to realize how fun and meaningful cooking can be. It was so memorable and profound to have people from different cultures come together, work as a team, and create something. It was a fantastic day made possible by the amazing diversity in Sydney.