East Taieri School pupil Matthew Hanna wants to become a celebrity chef one day. The following article was written last Friday by Regan Horrell, 'Talk on the Taieri.' Regan also took Matthew's photo.

East Taieri School pupil Matthew Hanna wants to become a celebrity chef one day.

Tomorrow (Saturday) the 10-year-old takes a step toward that dream when he competes in the inaugural Kiwi Kids Can Cook Otago-Southland Competition at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium.

Nine contestants have 30 minutes to cook and present their favourite dish including at least one New Zealand grown vegetable.

The new event features as part of the inaugural Whitestone Cheese Fresh Food Show at The Great Kiwi Home & Living Show. The Kiwi Kids Can Cook event heats for 8 years and under are at 10am and 9-11 years at 11am. Finals for both age groups will be held at 12.30pm.

The dishes will be judged by special guest judge Simon Gault – a judge on MasterChef NZ for five seasons.

New Zealand Chefs Association National President Hughie Blues told Talk on the Taieri the Dunedin event continued a growing competition that started from humble beginnings at a North Island wine and food festival 10 years ago.

“It’s about creating the healthy eating aspects, getting families back together at dinner time through cooking and, most importantly, my hope is these kids might consider a career path,” Mr Blues said.

Matthew said he has been cooking since he was about five and loves “having fun” in the kitchen. He was inspired to enter the competition from his uncle, who is a chef at Dunedin’s Plato Restaurant.

“I want to be like a chef that travels around New Zealand,” he said.

For the competition, Matthew plans to create a Thai chicken curry dish. He will produce a kumaru and potato mash with carrots, beans and steak dish if he makes the final.

With a smile, Matthew admits his favourite food is … chocolate brownie.

UPDATE:

Big congratulations to Matthew who made it through to the regional finals, just missing out on getting into the National finals. We will follow Matthew's future with interest!