During the month of September, Capital Region Farmers Market hosted a competition to find Canberra’s Best Aspiring Young Chef for under 16s.

The Market put the call out to find the region’s Best Young Aspiring Chefs and young Canberran cooks answered with 15 brilliant entries. Delicious creations were crafted by young chefs aged 9 to 15, ranging from entrées, mains, and desserts all using fresh local produce they sourced from Market, for their chance to take home the crown for Canberra’s Best Young Chef.

You can find all 15 entrants and their recipes and videos here. Our 15 young chefs all did such an amazing job and we’re inspired to be cooking their recipes at home with fresh market produce.

We were so impressed with everyone’s entries so we’re glad it was the Canberra public who had to vote for their favourite top 3 chefs!

The 3 finalists were Amalija (13), Leeland (10) and Charlie (10) who came to the markets on 17th September to cook off live in front of our customers and judges Minister Tara Cheyne, local chef Gerald Ong from Sour Dog Provisions and President of Rotary Club of Hall Paul Tyrell.

It was an amazingly tough job to judge as our finalists cooked up a storm to create their dishes:

 Charlie – Chocolate and Strawberry Clafoutis

Amalija – Creamy Chorizy and Tomato Pasta

Leeland – Pork Binfanas

But after watching the cooking process and tasting the final dishes the judges voted and announced the winner of Capital Region Farmer’s Market Best Young Aspiring Chef – Charlie!

Congratulations Charlie and well done to our runners up Amalija (2nd place) and Leeland (3rd place).

See the full recipes and videos for our 3 finalists Charlie, Amalija and Leeland.