Colleagues and pupils at North Hill House school have had an exciting few weeks. Food technology teacher Melanie and pupil Ben were invited for a special lunch with Queen Camilla in London as their entries to the Big Lunch Recipe Search competition made it to the final five!
The Big Lunch competition was formed by the Eden Project to unearth shareable dishes to inspire the nation to cook and eat together over the weekend. Mel’s recipe was home-grown butternut squash empanadas, and Ben’s was a strawberry and vanilla cheesecake.
Her Majesty revealed the winner at an event at Canary Wharf, which was our wonderful Chef Mel and her butternut squash empanadas!
Mel said:
“I invented this recipe during lockdown! During covid, as well as online teaching, I started growing veg. When the lockdowns ended, I walked to work, and (socially distanced!), got talking to a neighbour about gardening. He spoke about growing chillies, I about growing squash. We did a little trade, a homegrown squash for fresh chillies! Then, my cousin married a lovely Argentinian man. He told me about Empanadas, a national Argentinian dish, and this recipe was born!”
Following this exciting day, Eden Project, who run the competition, headed to North Hill House for their very own Big Lunch in celebration of such wonderful achievements.
Food, laughter and joy were shared as the school got together to share the excitement and incredible success of their teacher and pupil. Michael Pearce, Headteacher at North Hill House, said:
“I couldn’t be prouder of Ben and Chef Mel. Their recognition as one of the top five winners at the Big Lunch event in Canary Wharf is a testament to their creativity, dedication, and the incredible bond they’ve built through learning at school, and for Mel to win the overall competition and celebrate this with Ben and his mum at the time is one to remember forever.
“Ben’s passion for cooking has shone through beautifully, and seeing his work professionally published is a huge achievement. Chef Mel’s joy in sharing this journey with her learner is what makes this so special – it’s the heart of what we do here at North Hill House school. This certainly encompasses all of our school values.
“Well done, Ben and Mel – you’ve made us all so proud and we are really pleased we were able to celebrate this with you on Friday at our very own ‘Big Lunch’. The empanadas were delicious and I hear the cheesecake was too, but I wasn’t quick enough to get a slice.”
Well done Mel and Ben!
