I participated in a cooking competition hosted by the Baker’s Bunch Arena. From childhood, I have been a big foodie and started cooking from grade 9 when I picked it as my AS (arts special subject). Since then I have been regularly cooking at my home and took the opportunity given to me by the COVID-19 Lockdown to further enhance my skills. However, now I wanted to further challenge myself and when I came across this competition, I thought it to be the perfect opportunity and enrolled in the competition. In the competition, we had to make Pizza and Brownies by replicating the chef’s recipe and also adding our own personal touch. This competition not only allowed me to showcase my skills but also to learn from the experts who conducted some sessions on baking and cooking.
Learning outcomes
LO1: Over the course of this experience, I did some things that I had never done before such as making the Pizza dough and not just following a recipe but to elevate it by adding something special. When I did these things, I actually found out that I am really good at. One weakness I identified was that I struggled to identify the right amount spices that needs to be added. But when I took my mother’s help in that, she told me that this knowledge comes from experience. So basically I’ll have to just cook more in order to overcome this weakness of mine. It is very important for us to identify our weaknesses because if we don’t identify them, then we will continue to make them time and again.
LO2: The main challenge of this competition was to come up with a personal touch to add to the dish. Basically it was the entire aim of the competition because everyone can replicate a recipe but to elevate it is the main challenge. I overcame this challenge by critically thinking on what ingredient should I use differently to add another element to my Pizza and brownie. Apart from just elevating the recipe, another challenge was to keep the health factor in mind while making the dish. I felt really proud of myself due to the fact that I was able to undertake this challenge. This challenge really made me push my boundaries and this is the reason why it is important to take new challenges. I learnt the skill of rolling a pizza dough and this skill will not only help me in rolling a pizza dough, but any dough for that matter. It is very important to learn new skills in order to progress in what you are doing. Without learning and practicing new skills you will never improve and stay at the position you are.
LO3: The competition itself did not required a lot prior planning, but me being in grade 12 with all my assignments lining up, had to plan to take out time for this competition. Along with planning a time table, I had to plan out my dish, because I could not just think of a personal touch while making the dish. I usually am an organized person and schedule things in an efficient manner, this skill of mine actually helped me throughout the course of this experience. Although, while cooking I usually don’t plan out things, but from now onwards, this is a habit that I will inculcate. Planing in future will surely be easier now that I have been practicing a lot. It is very important for us to plan activities in order to avoid any havoc or hindrance while doing our task. Planning out things prior helps in a smoother flow of the activity we do.
Final takeaways.
I demonstrated and developed the following learner profiles during this experience : Thinker and risk-taker. Thinker because I had to think out of the box to come up with a creative touch to my dish that would significantly elevate it. Risk taker because, it is always a risk when you don’t follow the exact recipe but try to make changes into it, but this risk was important to take so that I could compete with the other participants. The risk I took was to make the pizza of the crust filled with liquid cheese spread and it actually became the highlight of my dish and my experience overall. This new addition to pizza inspired by the domino’s cheese burst now became a new skill that I developed. If I would to go back in time and perform this activity again, I would have focused on the aesthetic part of my dishes. When the results came out, I saw that those who had won had presented their dishes really beautifully, the component that was missing from my dish.
Evidences
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lSrJZXE82U_yIT9X6-smHlCR1rI6I2uw?usp=sharing
Other evidences such as video and recipe sheet can be accesed via the above link.