Fantastic things happening in the Waikato!

by Gemma Carroll | posted in: Training & Events | 0

This is a report from the HAMILTON PRESS in mid December – this is such a great initiative – we would love to see more of this sort of thing happening! Well done to Phillip, Fungai, Leanne and team!

Owners an operators of Hamilton takeaway outlets train in making the best chips at Wintec's Avalon campus cooking school.

Bid for Better Chips Tastes Success

Despite the inroad of a vast variety of new forms of take-away food over the past 40 yeas fish and ship remain New Zealand’s favourite.

However, the excessive consumption of fatty foods is seen as one of the driving factors of growing obesity problems.

Twenty five owners of Hamilton fast food outlets gathered in the kitchens of the Waikato Institute of Technology’s cookery school last year in the second programme aimed at teaching the skills of producing the best sort of deep-fired potato ship.

The initiative was launched following talks between Hamilton Multicultural Services Trust health promoter Fungai Mhlanga and dietitian Leanne Young. Hamilton City Council’s, ethnic development advisor Phillip Yeung was then called in and the help of Wintecs cooking tutors arranged.

Young said an on-line chip frying guideline was provided by The Chip Group but as many of the fast-food outlet operators are very busy they often didn’t have the time to read it.

Traditionally, chips are deep fried in beef lard which is a saturated fat. This type of artery clogging stuff has been identified as one of the causes of heart disease.

Today a range of vegetables oils are used in place of lard. But then there are also a variety of factors that can significantly reduce the amount of oil left on the chip.

At the moment hot chips contain on average 10.8g of fat per 100gm serving, the aim of the education is to reduce that to 9.2gm. “That doesn’t sound a lot but over the whole country it makes a big difference Young said. The first half of the better-chip frying course was in November and attracted 17 staff form 12 outlets.

Yeung said the training programme was aimed at migrant takeaway shop owners. “We received excellent reports from participants with some of them keen to study further courses at Wintec.”

An evaluation will take place following the workshop to determine whether more healthy chips courses are need from both migrant and local takeaway shops in Hamilton and the Waikato.