Groote Schuur Hospital staff went all-out to show off their cooking skills at the hospital’s 10th annual cook-off.
Staff from each department formed teams that competed against each other to sell their food to raise money for stationery for Grade R pupils from poorer communities.
Fifteen teams cooked up a storm in the middle of the Palm Court on Friday to see who could put together the best dishes.
Each team had from 8am to 11am to cook enough food and to impress judges with their culinary experience.
The teams were also judged on the best dress and best decor. Each team had to incorporate bell peppers into their dish.
Delmare Bailey, from the human resource department and her team Food Stormers cooked chicken stir fry and sold all their dishes.
“It’s team building for us and a fun day for our staff and now we can look forward to the new year,” she says.
Reigning cook-off champions, the radiology department Spongeezzzzz, who made burgers with a twist, said the competition was “fierce” this year.
Ryan Cloete said they always came up with the best ideas and made their dishes from scratch.
“We’re the reigning champs, the reason why we won the last couple of times was because we made everything from scratch, we made burgers 200g each. It’s going to taste lekker,” he says.
However, in the end there could only be one winner, and Korean Queens (maternity) won first prize for the best dish, impressing the judges.
The all-ladies’ team served a steam bun with slaw, pickled red onion with garnish, and sweet and spicy chicken with vegetable fried rice.
Team member Fatoema Moos said they had a vision and it was all about executing their plan.
“It’s amazing, this is the second time we’ve won, we didn’t win last year. I knew what to do and I did it, it’s great that we won,” she said, celebrating with her team.
Mama Mia won first prize for the best decor while Orange is the New Black won first prize for the best dress.
Meanwhile, the hospital raised R5 000 that will buy stationary for 200 pupils in the new year.
Hospital spokesperson Alaric Jacobs added that this was the hospital’s way of ploughing back into some of the poorer areas.
“The money we make today will go to Grade R pupils. It’s also a nice team building, it’s been a tough year for all of us.”
Weekend Argus