In collaboration with Ms Navnit Birdi, a Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist, on the 26th of July Bobo held a rainbow-themed 🌈 cook-off to educate the kids about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle!
Inviting children into the kitchen and explaining the ‘why’ of what we choose to eat has shown to bring more success and excitement during mealtimes. In order to provide a balanced plate, the students were briefed on the major food groups prior to the cook-off.
This cooking competition aimed to encourage creative thinking, responsibility, teamwork, communication, time management, entrepreneurship and much more, making the entire experience a great educational environment as well as introducing them into the business/food industry. Instructions, equipment and a fully operational pantry of amazing ingredients was provided beforehand by our team. At Bobo, the safety and wellbeing of the children is the first priority, thus the entire operation was supervised.
The rainbow menu by the contestants included a variety of flavoured granola bars, oatmeal bars, salads with a variety of ingredients (avocado, tomatoes, carrots, cold pasta, broccoli, etc.), rice bowls (some took the presentation to the next level by colouring the rice), fruit salads/skewers and healthy slushes.
The judges of the event were, Hussein Zavery, Ali Akber and Hussein Zain, the Backyard Team. The little chefs were judged on, Appearance (plating and variety of colour), Taste (seasoning and is it over/under cooked?), Balance (between the major food groups; carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals), Food Safety (basic safety measure, clean dress/counter, professionalism, etc.), Creative Use of Ingredients and Creative Strategy when selling their products. The contest rules were that the first team to sell everything on their stall would take home the win.
The event was a huge success! The judges were impressed with the culinary skills, neat workstations and presentation ideas. It was evident that the children really enjoyed the kitchen control and thought outside the box to get the win! The youngest competitors of the day were, Arya Ramdhani (4 years old) and Sivai Lavingia (5 years old) who were exceptionally cute with their stall and successfully sold everything made! All the teams showed a lot of confidence in their display and sales strategy, interestingly the winning team was not the one to make the most money on the day.
The best end to the day was when the children were asked what they had planned for their earnings, with all honesty the kids knew they were going to splurge on themselves!
Samiya and Azrina emerged as the Top Chefs of the Bobo Cook-Off and Bake Sale, with their delicious treats, amazing stand presentation and fast sales!👩🍳
The following weekend, the winning team, Samiya and Azrina bigheartedly donated their earnings to an orphanage and shared their joy with Bobo Play & Learn, we couldn’t be prouder!
