SNAG Conference

On Wednesday 25th May, 12 pupils from the SNAG (School Nutrition Action Group), attended the Annual SNAG Conference in County Hall. This was the first year that the school took part in the cooking challenge with entries in 2 categories being selected for the final cook off against other schools.

The Conference opened with speeches from nutritionalists and Chris Jones, with information given on the extent of the problem of obesity in Wales and Britain. Following this, Dan Freeman and Tyrone Stewart went into the kitchen to make up their bacon and sweetcorn muffins.

This was for the breakfast dish, and the first of the cook-offs. Competing against 3 other schools, the boys worked hard to make the muffins and present them in the time allowed. The muffins were then judged along with the other schools dishes by dieticians, pupils and catering managers.

Many of the score cards were showing a 10 for the muffins, the highest mark they could be given. Ollie Thomas and Max Baker then took their place in the kitchen to prepare our second dish which was fruity bread rolls.

Again, working hard to keep to the time limits that we had been given. Again, this was a successful dish with many favourable comments heard from the judges. While the muffins and rolls were being prepared Tamjid Miah was watching a demonstration by chef Martyn to enable him to prepare the same dish.

Tamjid then did a peer demonstration to Callum Powell, who also made up the dish. Both boys were assisted by Barbara our own school catering manager. There was also a selection of wii games and activities for pupils to engage themselves in if they were not cooking. All of the pupils took part in discussions about how they thought the food available within school could be improved and how they thought pupils could be encouraged to eat healthier.

Following a suitably healthy, and tasty buffet the winners from the cook off were announced. The muffins won us first place for the breakfast category, the fruity bread rolls coming a very close second in the snack category. Particularly pleasing was the fact the Cardiff Catering seemed very impressed with our dishes and said that they would be looking to put them on the menu in the future.

All of the pupils were fantastic representatives for the school and will continue with their mission to encourage healthier eating throughout the school.