Our own Iron Chefs

It’s 12.30 on a Thursday afternoon and a crowd of students have gathered around two barbecue pits at the University of Melbourne’s North Court. Music plays loudly in the background and the smell of sautéing onions and sizzling meat permeates the air. To a passer-by, the scene may seem unremarkable – it’s just another free University barbecue isn’t it?

Think again.

This is Round 1 of the Food Interest Group’s annual Iron Chef BBQ Competition. Though modelled after competitive cooking shows like Iron Chef and Master Chef, the rules are simple. Two teams of students each get $40 to buy ingredients to prepare a two-course meal, one of which has to be vegetarian. The catch? The dishes have to be prepared in an hour using only the barbecue pits provided. The entries will then be judged by FIG committee members and the audience based on presentation, creativity, food safety, and most importantly, taste.

So far, it’s been a tight race between the two teams – The Food Processors and Team Vegos – and time is running out.

“One minute to go!” head judge, Nick Johns-Wickberg yells as a reminder, and the audience erupts into encouraging cheers. Manning the Food Processors’ barbecue pit is third-year Science student Dominic Endrei who rushes to plate up their dishes of Mexican bean burritos and spicy lamb kofta balls with a cucumber yoghurt dip while his teammate, Ken Ong, checks to see if the meat is undercooked.

At Team Vegos corner, exchange students Mieke van Erk, Casey Wilen, and Emeline Vogelzang are adding the finishing touches to their olive bread bruschetta with spinach, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and ricotta-filled quesadillas just as an announcement is made that their time is up. Tasting-time begins and head judge Nick hands out scoring sheets to audience members who are all too keen to help in the judging process – and for good reason.

“I think free food is always attractive. And it gets people involved – participation is always important,” says Piper O’Dowd, Clubs and Societies Officer of the University of Melbourne, who has stopped by to observe.

FIG’s strong following proves her assertion, boasting more than 400 members to its name this year – an impressive number for a club that was formed in late 2008.

“We thought that it was pretty obvious that a lot of people like cooking and eating so we felt it was quite strange that there wasn’t a food club at uni, ” says current president, Michelle Cheng, who together with founding president Ken Ong, helped establish FIG at the University of Melbourne.

Since its formation, FIG has run many food-inspired activities including food trivia nights, pot-luck lunches, and even food crawls where members roam the streets of Melbourne to sample good, but affordable, food.

“We’ve always wanted FIG to be an inclusive club; we do this by having as many free events as possible, and organising some seriously fun events that all food-eaters (sic) can be involved in,” says Ken, who currently serves as club adviser. For him, cheap yet innovative events such as the Iron Chef BBQ Competition are the key to keeping their budget-conscious members happy.

“This competition is very ‘University-friendly’. It’s about value for money – learning how to cook on a budget,” says audience member and third-year Arts student, Gabriel Phipps, of the $40 shopping limit imposed on each team.

For Science student Marcus Matear, his love of cooking – whether on a budget or not – is what inspired him to participate in the second round of the competition.

“Cooking is a science!” he enthuses, as he prepares to compete shortly after Team Vegos are announced as the winners of Round 1. Evidently, this is one science Matear excels at as an hour later, he, together with team-members Richard Chelotti and Oliver Wahlstrom-Schott, win over the judges with their two dishes – barbecued chicken breast with sage, prosciutto, melted parmesan, and grilled pear accompanied by a rich, tiramisu cake.

“It was extremely close though,” says head judge Nick, acknowledging the efforts of rival team, The Peter Everett Experience, whose Asian-inspired vegetarian fried rice with marinated lamb kebabs was an impressive submission considering the boys (Simon Howlett, Carl Fernandes, and Gareth Huang) had never attempted those recipes before.

More unique and tasty events are being planned so for more information about FIG, join their Facebook group or email
unimelbfig@gmail.com or.