After weeks of long hours and lots of hard work on their application The Belconnen Fresh Food Markets were named the ACT finalist in Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food search for their next cooking school location! The petition attracted almost 530 signatures which we thought was outstanding for the Canberra community!
Yesterday the 8 finalist teams from each state and territory in Australia met at Jamie’s Italian on Pitt Street in Sydney for a ‘Finalists Luncheon’. The finalists were each treated to a two course meal of the most popular dishes on the Jamie’s Italian menu and had the chance to discuss their communities and submissions together. Then off to Carriage Works for a live “Kitchen Talk with Jamie” event hosted by Jamie’s Ministry of Food and had around 850 people in audience. The show consisted of cooking demonstrations from Jamie Oliver himself, Ben O’Donoghue, Tobie Puttock and Anna Gare and was hosted by Lisa Wilkinson. The chefs each shared insight into their careers, cooking styles, tips and tricks in the kitchen as well as ongoing information about the Ministry of Food Centres in Australia with the audience.
The finalists were invited up on stage and introduced personally to Jamie towards the end of the show and answered questions with Lisa Wilkinson about their submissions and why their community was in need. The finalists were able to stay up on stage and were seated at a large makeshift dinner table while Jamie did the final cooking demonstration. Afterwards Jamie announced the winner of the new location of the Ministry of Food Cooking School – Noarlunga, SA.
Luckily for the finalists they were able to stay after the event and had the chance to talk with Jamie as a group about future opportunities to bring Centre’s to our communities!
Amy Hanrahan, Communications Coordinator at Belconnen Fresh Food Markets, met Jamie Oliver in person and had a chat, here is what she said:
“Yes – I got to meet Jamie in person – he was very friendly, and incredibly humble given all his achievements. He is very much ‘what you see is what you get’, and just like his character on TV – very down to earth and cheeky. He is obviously very passionate about changing people’s lives, and his commitment to helping people in Australia is incredible. He really believes that we will be the first nation to educate our population and start to make a difference in diet related health issues. He wants Australia to be a model that can follow through to other countries around the world. He also spoke of helping the other finalists open Centre’s in their community in the future which is a positive sign for Canberra, it’s not over yet. We at the Belconnen Markets will still fight to help our community”.
Well done Belconnen Fresh Food Markets!
