Closing another chapter while venturing into a new realm; that’s what organisers of the “Dutch Lady” Milk Culinary Competition did on Friday February 02^nd as it hosted a joint closing ceremony and the launch of the 2017 and 2018 competitions respectively.

Last year’s winner – the St Joseph’s Convent Grenville and the other five participating schools were presented with prizes ranging from a refrigerator to internships at La Source Sandals Grenada Resort.

The winning students together with their coach received the winning trophy and prizes from Managing Director of Hubbards Allan Bierzynski for placing first in the Dutch Lady Milk Culinary Competition.

The SJC St Andrew girls and their coach also received a special prize from Sandals La Source to be part of their mentorship experience at the hotel.   The young ladies will be going to Barbados to participate in the regional competition in August.

Students of the participating schools were also presented with certificates, gifts and trophies.

Manager of Hubbards Agency Department, Margaret Roberts said Hubbards and Friesland Campina is happy to make such investment in students

She said “what the schools will be receiving today is an incentive, but more importantly it is the practical application, the knowledge and experience gained by the students in this culinary competition”.

In her presentation reviewing the competition since its inception, while recalling the introduction of the ‘Dutch Lady’ brand to Grenada sixteen years ago, Roberts said the ‘Dutch Lady’ is more than just milk. She said it helps to build bonds and creates future entrepreneurs in the culinary field.

Chef for the “Dutch Lady” Milk Culinary Competition Aaron Johnson is intent on bringing back gold in this years, regional leg of the Competition

Johnson said that while winning will be nice the most important element for the students will be acquiring experience.

“We, myself and Chef Sandy have been in this competition for the last three years and I must say that over the years that have passed we have seen a steady improvement .The food this year was of a very high quality. I remember Chef and I tasted an appetizer and after tasting it we decided to make it our breakfast, it was that amazing,” he said.

This year the competition was judged on technical skills, taste, cleanliness, creative use of ingredients and presentation. The judges said they were impressed in each of the areas with special recognition of the students’ cleanliness.

“Chef and I between us have about thirty years of experience and for you students to come out there and amaze us the way you did, once again you have a lot to be proud of,” Chef Johnson said.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Aaron Francois complimented Hubbards as the distributors of “Dutch Lady” saying they have demonstrated that they are not only interested in selling products.

“Cooking with children in schools promote lifetime skills of healthy cooking staring at a young age. You who lack healthy cooking knowledge may rely on packaged food or prepared food containing questionable nutritional value as a result introducing healthy cooking in school can expose you to some of those foods that are good for you”, he said.

Deborah Gilchrist, Curriculum Officer in the Ministry of Education who gave an overview of the 2017 competition disclosed that with the assistance of Hubbards, culinary teachers attached to the competition will participate in a workshop in July of this year.

But not only is Hubbards responsible to developing culinary skills among the nations’ students, the company under the ‘Dutch Lady’ brand has been feeding scores of children through its “Milk and Cookies” Distribution initiative.

Roberts said this program will continue.

“On June 01^st we will continue with the distribution of milk and cookies to the students in the pre-primary, primary and secondary schools in the nation.  Since we started this activity four years ago it was held in St George’s twice, we moved to Grenville and then last year it was held in the parish of St David. This year come June 1st we will be in the parish of St John as we celebrate the observance of World Milk Day,” she said.

Roberts also spoke to the company’s annual back to school promotion.

“We have organized too, the back to school promotion where students can get free bag packs, key rings, exercise books, crayons, pens, sharpeners and many more items when their parents make purchases of Dutch Lady products; this will run during the month of July and August. ”

The new campaign for 2018 to 2021 “Dutch Lady” promotions is “Building Stronger Families” which focusses on the well-being and health of families.

The 2018 “Dutch Lady” Milk Culinary Competition begins on . The regional leg of the competition begins on August 13^TH and runs for one week in Barbados