This October will once again see the four finalist teams of the Hospitality in Healthcare Culinary Competition pitting their skills against their peers and against the clock, showcasing their creativity before a panel of expert judges.

The final cook-off is scheduled to be held at Wrest Point, Hobart on the evening of Tuesday 13 October, capping the second night of our 43rd National Conference. And this year we have a new Master of Ceremonies for the event – well-known chef and culinary leadership coach Glenn Flood, who has forged his reputation on empowering chefs and hospitality professionals.

Glenn’s first experience of our Culinary Competition was at last year’s conference in Melbourne, to which he was invited as one of our keynote speakers. “I was really excited to be asked, because the healthcare sector is not an area of hospitality I’ve worked with before, and I had recently launched my book Secret Sauce: The Proven Recipe for Kitchen Leadership so it was a great tie-in opportunity to talk about managing teams and building leadership credentials within health and aged care foodservice. It was my first time attending and I have to say I was blown away with how tight the ecosystem is – a lot of people I knew from different sectors were there, but had come together under a different lens.”

Following his speech, Glenn was asked to act as one of the judges for the final cook-off which was being held that evening. “It was very inspiring to see how hard the finalists were working and certainly it was amazing to taste such a great array of dishes. They were restaurant standard quality and I was really encouraged by that. In foodservice the health and aged care sector is often put under the term ‘institutional catering’ because it’s high volume dishes, but just because chefs are doing that day to day doesn’t mean they don’t have the training, flair and creativity to put together top end cuisine – as the competition certainly proves!”

Glenn is a firm advocate of the competitive environment as a means for chefs to hone their skills. “Having been in the industry for over 30 years, I’m involved with a lot of different competitions throughout the year, and I think they’re terrific for fueling creativity and elevating standards generally. It’s about performing under pressure, professional development, camaraderie, building connections – and it’s also about shining a spotlight on sponsors who love having their products showcased, whether it's those wonderful Unox ovens, Bega Foodservice which is a big player in the market, Nestlé Professional who have always got behind the professional development of chefs, Meyer Food Co who make fantastic products and Moffat who are the sponsors of the competition trophy  – I deal with them all in different incarnations, and to see them come together to celebrate health and aged care hospitality is really encouraging.”

For this year’s final, Glenn will be Master of Ceremonies, stepping into the shoes of Alastair McLeod who has handled those duties for the past four years. “Hosting events like this is something I love to do, and I have to acknowledge the great example Alastair has set because he’s such an icon in that capacity all around the country – so to be following in his footsteps is fantastic. I see my role as MC as to help curate the narrative – tell the stories of the sponsors and above all the competitors, who are the ones doing the hard yards on the night. I’m there to act as the connecting thread as we follow their journey, celebrating their skills and the excellence of their cuisine.”

The competition is open to anyone regularly employed within health and aged care, with teams consisting of any two of the following: chef/cook, director/manager, accredited practising dietitian (APD) and senior leader and/or staff of foodservice team. Each team is required to choose from a list of key ingredients drawn from two market baskets, with entries required to adhere to a food cost of no more than $8.50 per finished plate and nutritional guidelines specifying a maximum of 3000kJ per dish, with less than 23g fat (maximum of 30 per cent of total kJ) and less than 750mg sodium. A nutritional analysis signed off by an accredited practising dietitian must be included with the entry.

Entries are open until July 24 at 5pm AEST. Full details including terms and conditions and a link to the entry form are at https://www.ihhc.org.au/culinary-competition.

All entries submitted will be reviewed by the Culinary Competition planning committee, with finalists chosen on originality/innovation, applicability to the healthcare foodservice environment, use of colour and texture and overall plate presentation.

The final cook-off, in which the four finalist teams get 30 minutes of preparation time, followed by 45 minutes to prepare five portions of their recipe, has been a highlight of the Hospitality in Healthcare National Conference for the past four years now. “The energy’s fantastic,” Glenn affirms. “When you have a couple of hundred conference delegates and suppliers and they’ve had a drink or two, the crowd can get quite rowdy – there’s cheering, yelling, celebrating, lots of photos being taken. Through all this, the judges have the fantastic job of going through and tasting the dishes.

“It’s a real celebration of being a professional in this industry and it’s remarkable how our finalist chefs rise to the occasion and put their skills on the line. Most of the time as a chef you’re working back of house with a small team in a contained environment – to go from that to a pop up kitchen where you’re cooking against the clock in front of a crowd of hundreds of people elevates your whole game. Our finalists have put their hats in the ring and are giving it their all, and they’re really thankful to have this opportunity to compete.

“I think one of the great things about the competition is that its letting the rest of hospitality know that going into health or aged care as a chef is not a sideways or backward step – there’s so much knowledge to be gained in that environment, it’s another really good option to ply your craft and hone your skills. Health and aged care hospitality is evolving and the I think the Board of Hospitality in Healthcare is doing a great job in helping to drive innovation, with this competition playing an important role.”

Glenn concludes by emphasising the important role that health and aged care chefs can play in making a difference to the lives of patients and residents:  “A lot of chefs I’ve spoken to in this sector love the fact that they’re able to make a positive contribution to the wellbeing of patients and residents and see food as an aspect of care. Often when working in health and aged care you not only get to know the people you’re cooking for, you get to make a connection with their loved ones as well. And when service and hospitality is in your DNA, that’s a very rewarding experience.”