Longhill School - A menu fit for a queen
As part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, Longhill High School on the Falmer Road entered the nation-wide competition to ‘Design a menu fit for The Queen that celebrates the food produced in your part of the country.” The competition was the idea of the Duchess of Cornwall and is her special tribute to the Queen for the Diamond Jubilee.From over 200 schools that entered the competition Longhill were one of the 16 finalists.
The Competition
Students had design a menu of canapés using Sussex produce that are Fit For The Queen.
Our menu entry was completely selected, produced and presented by the students. They spent their own time after school, working on showcasing local ingredients to reflect the produce of the South East, and also their personal choices which are popular with all students. They wanted to share their tastes, family recipes and the best of the local community, with The Queen and her Royal family.
Meg Moore, Food Tech teacher at Longhill said ‘The students tried to incorporate local ingredients into their canapés at every opportunity, including herbs grown in our school herb garden and home grown vegetables by teaching staff. All eggs were donated by Maths teacher, Mr Hawthorne, who keeps chickens at home. Students researched and selected local cheeses, and specialities including sausages, strawberries and locally caught fish’.
For the final practical session before completing their menu choices, the students hosted an afternoon tasting session with help from local chef, Daveed Brulin of Choccywoccydoodah, Brighton. Representatives from the Brighton YMCA, Charlie Essex and Lisa Erdman also came to taste test the students’ work. Daveed helped to perfect the students work, and gave pointers on how they could improved their dishes. He was interviewed by year 7 student Josh White for Longhill Live (Longhills radio station live.longhill.org.uk), where Daveed discussed his career and what he would like to cook for The Queen "Something traditional, maybe a chicken pie".
Comments about the menu from the afternoon tasting session;
"The scones are delicious, they absolutely melt in the mouth. Exquisite." Lisa Erdman-, Brighton YMCA
"That's posh food that is!" - Charlie Essex, Brighton YMCA
*"The flapjacks are delicious. I usually don't like flapjacks as I find them quite dry but these are delicious." * Daveed, Choccywoccydoodah
"What an excellent standard of students food. The commitment from the group was incredible as they were they for up to two hours after school working on dish ideas."- Meg Moore - Food tech teacher
Unfortunately Longhill didn't make the top 4, but students involved feel very proud to have achieved a place in the finals. * "Every entry we received was really wonderful and we are so impressed by the imagination and effort that everyone has put into taking part; it is purely that competition was very, very tough.* Mark Flanagan, the Royal Chef at Buckingham Palace, was hugely impressed by all the finalist's entries. 'We all thought you set a standard that professional chefs could look up to as they plan patriotic menus this summer." - Danielle Faulkner, Organiser of the competition at Love British Food.
