Student chefs at NorthTec to develop new cuisine culture

Three students from a vocational chef school in China have arrived at NorthTec to gather as much information as they can in the next month to help them create a new cuisine culture. However, they also want to draw attention to a part of their own Chinese culture which is under threat.

Justin Chen, who is in charge of the application centre for International Chinese students to NorthTec, under the Chefing Exchange Programme, said student chefs Martin Liang, Zachery Zhu, and Matt Ma, were bought out to New Zealand a month ago, subsidized by the Chinese Government, so they can learn about New Zealand-style cooking. They will combine these Westernized insights with their own traditional methods to create a new style of cuisine culture.
“After they have finished, they will be able to create their own fusion style food,” Mr Chen said.

The arrival of the students at NorthTec, is the second leg of their New Zealand field trip with the three having already spent time learning about New Zealand cuisine and cookery skills from visits to Palmerston North, Wanganui, and while in the Wellington area.

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Every aspect of their educational trip to New Zealand so far has been chartered, and while they are in Northland, will also be published on the official Chinese Government website.

The three student chefs, from a tourism and business school in Guang Zhou, the capital city of Guang Dong Province in China, would be at NorthTec for a month to develop their culinary skills as part of their final year’s study he said.
Mr Chen said as well as learning all they can while here, the three students are eager to draw attention to a social change in China, which is threatening the ancient Chinese cooking tradition of making noodles by hand that uses only water, salt, and a combination of two different flours.

Since arriving in New Zealand, the student chefs have been keen to impress on people the artistry involved in the hand-made process, which has been a staple part of Chinese culture for a thousand years, but which is under threat from cheaper mass-produced noodles he said.

Spending his time between China and New Zealand, Mr Chen, is a senior chef with 20 years experience working in the catering and hospitality industry, is General Manager of the Hospitality Training Centre in China, and runs businesses in both New Zealand and China.

He said he gained the skill of pulling noodles from the champion of a top nationwide Chinese patisserie competition, which represents the highest proficiency and most authentic way to make the noodles.
Mr Chen reckons although almost three times more expensive to make, compared with the noodles manufactured for the local markets in China, people there prefer hand-made noodles which are much healthier and tastier and don’t come with what he claims are added chemicals.

At a dinner service at NorthTec’s Apprentice Restaurant, after the visitors arrived last week, 33 diners got to experience the difference in taste, where they were treated to a spectacle with the visiting students skilfully demonstrating the noodle-making process from start to finish. They pulled, teased, twisted, swirled, platted and contorted the dough made from the three core ingredients to create the Chinese-style noodles that were offered up as an extra course on the menu and served with Thai and Italian style sauces.

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Mr Chen said the demonstration of the noodle-making had been happening on the Chefing Exchange Programme now for almost three years, with all sorts of flours trialled in that time. He said all types of flour have a different texture which had been one of the major challenges in getting to the right formula to hold the demonstrations.

NorthTec Tourism and Hospitality Programme Leader, Lionel Rudolph said there were various plans in place to give the visiting students the experience they are seeking to develop their culinary knowledge that will generate the new cuisine culture.

The sorts of activities planned include, class experience with Western students, a demonstration of the noodle-making at a meeting of the Northland Chef’s Association, a fishing trip to Pouto Point and a visit to Waikaratu Marae in the Kaipara District, another dinner service at the Apprentice Restaurant, and a noodle workshop for domestic students at NorthTec.

Mr Rudolph said for five years now, International students from China had been a part of NorthTec’s food and hospitality programme who, had assisted with skilled shortages of chefs in Northland where, once properly trained, they didn’t mind going to remote areas for work he said.

“We have close to 30 Chinese International students in the Bay of Islands, year in and year out. They love the work, turn up, and the good thing about them is they have really good work ethics.”

He said the attitudes the International students displayed had also helped to lift the standards of the domestic students which had helped the local industry profoundly.

Mr Chen said since 2007, the Hospitality International Programme had provided just over 100 Chinese students to NorthTec.

NorthTec is the Tai Tokerau (Northland) region's largest provider of tertiary education, with campuses and learning centres in Whangarei, Kerikeri, Rāwene, Kaikohe and Kaitaia. NorthTec also has over 60 community-based delivery points from Coatesville in rural Rodney to Ngataki in the Far North.

ENDS

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