Katikati College Students Cook Alongside Chelsea Winter at AvoFest

Eight Katikati College students — Years 10 to 13, plus former student Hamish Tanner — are rolling up their sleeves to cater for corporate tent guests and act as rotating sous-chefs for celebrity chef Chelsea Winter at this weekend's Katikati AvoFest. The festival runs noon to 6pm at Uretara Domain, offering live music, culinary demonstrations, and plenty of summer kai.

Hospitality department head Kāryn Williams hand-picked the group for the real-world experience, noting that students had prepped Chelsea Winter's sample dishes at the college's own food technology kitchen on 9 January before heading to the festival site. On the day, the students would be on their feet from 11am to 5pm in full chef uniform, working in the kitchen marquee alongside Winter as she prepared dishes including flatbreads with avo and whipped feta, Vietnamese-style poached chicken and avocado salad, hot smoked salmon and avocado cups, and a decadent orange-choc mousse.

Williams said authentic, off-site experiences like this took students well beyond what a school kitchen could offer. Adding time pressure, client expectations, and summer heat transformed classroom skills into genuine industry readiness. Former student Tanner, now studying food technology and science at Otago University, said being invited back was "like being a kid in a lolly store."

"Seeing it come to life through a professional like Chelsea makes it real," Williams said, explaining that witnessing the creativity, discipline, and teamwork involved often left students thinking 'I could do this' — and that spark could be the first step towards a lifelong career in hospitality.

Originally published in Katikati News (Sun Media).