Student cooking contest to nurture healthy eating

The search for talented young chefs in the 23rd Maggi Secondary Schools Cooking Competition 2019 (MSSCC) has begun with the launch of the competition at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Presint 11, Putrajaya on March 19, 2019.

The annual competition themed ‘You and Maggi – Making a positive impact through homemade meals’ is a joint initiative by Maggi and Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) with the aim of nurturing an interest in cooking amongst young Malaysians and promoting good nutrition and cooking habits.

Suhaimi Sun bin Abdullah, deputy director of sports and arts education division at MOE said, “We welcome collaborative efforts with private sectors in nurturing a healthier generation of Malaysians and we are confident that the new and exciting elements will further inspire students to embrace higher order thinking skills and provide a strong platform to enable them to grow their capabilities.”

The competition will take place at the state and national levels. Participants will be given a collection of ingredients which the young chefs will be working with to create their wholesome home-cooked dishes.   

Maggi marketing manager Kimberly Oh said the competition was also aimed at inspiring students to embrace a higher order thinking skill by pitting students against each other in creative cooking challenge that require them to tap into their creativity and problem-solving skills right at the onset.

“This year, there is greater emphasis on presentation and communication skills when students present their recipes and dishes they create. In tandem with this, we continuously strive to impart the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle through good nutrition.” she said.

To date, over 10,000 schools and nearly 340,000 students have participated in this programme and gained vital knowledge and skills on food, nutrition and healthy eating.