College students chosen to cater for ?Mayor-Making? event

9th June 2015

Twenty of Barking & Dagenham College?s catering and hospitality students were chosen to prepare and serve the food and drink at two of this year?s ?Mayor-Making? events which took place this weekend (5th - 7th of June). This is the fourth year that the College had been commissioned to deliver this event and this year?s student team were only too pleased to add this real work experience to their CVs.

Working with Town Hall staff, on Friday night the students cooked and served a hot and cold buffet to 140 guests who were invited to the ceremonial council meeting.

The hot dishes included a vegetarian dish and delights such as a fish pie accompanied by freshly made sauces. Amongst the cold options were turkey salad, beef stroganoff, and tomato salad. At the ceremony, the current Mayor, Councillor Elizabeth Kangethe, was joined by the new Mayor elect, Councillor Simon Bremner alongside family, friends and colleagues.

Above: students preparing the food in the College's commercial training kitchens.

The newly elected Mayor, Councillor Bremner said:

“The quality of the food and the service provided were both excellent.”

Food & Beverage Apprentice, Jaye Cooney, 18, from Dagenham, said:

“The experience was enjoyable, I had a lot of fun, and it was an honour to meet the new mayor.’’

In addition, the students also cooked for 150 guests on Sunday. Following a parade through the town square, guests were treated to a finger food buffet. The tasty options included chicken satay, prawn vol-au-vents, quiche, and fish goujons.

Juan Pahl, Curriculum Manager for Food Studies at Barking & Dagenham College commented:

“Catering at an event like this was a real honour. Catering for so many guests was hard, but we had a fantastic team working to create two great events with top food for the new Mayor. We are making students work ready by offering them the opportunities to be involved in projects like this.’’