Cooking Contest: A way to monitor and follow up students’ competency

Approximately 50 food courses have been providing to Tonlé’s trainees since the beginning of school year. Purchasing, food preparation, art of presentation and table set up are included in the cooking lesson. After 10 food courses provided, every student is required to take a dish and prepare as a mean to monitor their progress. Another further step to challenge the students is to make food contest between them. The 12 students in Stung Treng are divided into 4 groups who responsible to prepare a set menu each. Every group has a limit budget of 15,000r and 2 hours time frame to make 3 different courses for two people – 1 starter, 1 main course and 1 dessert.

The evaluation does not look only into the group outcomes but also the contribution of individual in the team. Three major evaluation indicators are preparation, taste and presentation. Feedback for each group is made after they complete the assignment in order to provide them to understand what should be improved in their cooking class. Through this exercise, trainer is able to identify training gap which need to be improved while trainees themselves are able to learn how to prepare food in a better way.