Ten students from Holland College's Culinary Institute of Canada are spending long hours practicing for the provincial level of the Knorr/Canadian Culinary Federation Junior Culinary Challenge, the competition that was the focus of The Next Great Chef television series last winter. The television series chronicles the efforts of young chefs as they compete first provincially and then nationally in the Junior Culinary Challenge.

The provincial competitions will be filmed again this year in preparation for the second season of The Next Great Chef. Prince Edward Island's competition takes place on Saturday, April 8th at 6:30 pm in the Lucy Maud Dining Room of the Tourism and Culinary Centre. Nine students from the culinary institute are competing on Prince Edward Island; the tenth student will compete in his home province of New Brunswick. Each competitor will have four hours and 20 minutes to plan and prepare a three-course menu for eight people that includes one hot or cold appetizer, one hot or cold entr?e and one hot or cold dessert.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the final stages of the competition. Admission is $30 and includes a meal prepared by one of the competitors.

Chef Hans Anderegg, Junior Competition Chair for the Canadian Culinary Federation and an instructor at the Culinary Institute of Canada says that the competitors in the Island provincials are well prepared.

"In other provinces, not all students are familiar with the kitchens in which they are competing," he explains. "On PEI, all of the students are very familiar with the layout and the equipment they will be using.

Not only are they working in the same kitchen during their course work, they spend, on average, an additional 25 hours per week in there preparing for the competition."

Some of the competitors have asked specific instructors at the CIC to coach them for the competition; but Chef Hans notes that all of the instructors are available to help any of the students as they ready themselves for the competition.

The winner of the provincial competition will travel to Outaouais, Qu?bec for the national final on June 16th. The national champion receives $5,000 and the opportunity to travel with Team Canada to a major World culinary event taking place in Erfurt, Germany later this year. The second place winner receives $2,000, the third place winner receives $1,000, and the remaining seven finalists receive $300.

In this picture: Angela Wall, last season's winner for PEI on The Next Great Chef. This year's provincial competition takes place at the Holland College Tourism and Culinary Centre on Saturday. (Photo credit: Frank Vena for The Next Great Chef Enterprises Inc.)