Ten finalists have emerged from twenty semi finalists in the ongoing Eko Flavours Junior Competition organized by the Lagos State government for young people between the ages of ten to thirteen to showcase their cooking prowess.
Eko Flavours Junior is Lagos State’s premier school-based culinary competition designed to discover young cooking talents to promote healthy food culture, with three hundred and fifty entries.
At the event held at the Lagos Food Hub, Idi-Oro in Mushin, Commissioner for Agriculture and Food System, Ms Abisola Olusanya said the initiative was conceived by the wife of the Governor, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-olu , to encourage creativity, teamwork among children as well as take pride in the nation’s food heritage.
Ms Olusanya who was optimistic that the competition would create job opportunities and a sustainable future in the food sector, urged participants to see the competition as a stepping stone to greater heights in the culinary sector.
The technical partner for the Eko Flavours Junior Competition, Mrs Olufunke Adu, said the development was to encourage a shift from the regular white collar job for the young minds to embrace culinary and other vocational skills to excel in life.
Mrs Adu challenged parents to train their children from young age in cooking, washing and other house chores to be useful to themselves and the society at large.
Some of the participants thanked the Lagos State government for giving them the platform to display their creative cooking skills.
The grand finale will be held on Saturday, July 26, as the winner will go home with three million naira, while the first and second runner up will be gifted two million naira and one million naira respectively.
Reporting by Yemisi Dada