Tamatea High School students Tai Dawson, Leyland McLeod and Mone Takanashi with Bahn Mi Saigon Chef Cong Dinh.
One of the goals at Tamatea High School is making the most of authentic learning contexts. Principal, Robin Fabish, says “High school shouldn’t be boring! We want it to be engaging and to make the most of opportunities to keep it real. We want to get our students into our community and have our community come into our school. Making connections with business owners who can inspire our students to start their own businesses is really important.”
The Year 13 Food and Nutrition class were treated with visit by Vietnamese Chef Cong Dinh who showed them how he makes Bahn mi for his new Greenmeadows shop. Bahn mi is a bread roll filled with sausage, pork belly, pickle, mayonnaise, pate and coriander. Bahn mi was introduced to Vietnam by the French and it has since become a famous street dish in places like Ho Chi Minh city.
Ms Chanel Atkin, newly appointed Food and Nutrition teacher at Tamatea High, arranged for Cong to visit the class because they have been learning about different types of sandwiches in class. “Cong has worked at the Hilton Hotel in Auckland and also on cruise ships all over the world. He’s very accomplished and it’s fantastic to have him come in and share some of his Vietnamese cuisine knowledge.”
Ms Atkin added, “On top of that the flavours in the Bahn mi were amazing – Cong makes his own mayonnaise and pate and the pork belly was to die for!”
