This semester in Food Technology has been both exciting and meaningful. Throughout the term, we created a wide range of dishes, many of which were inspired by different cultures. Learning about the cultural background of each dish helped me appreciate how food connects people, traditions, and stories.

As we cooked, I developed many practical kitchen skills such as chopping, measuring, seasoning, and following multi-step instructions. Dishes like Christmas tree pancakes, dumplings, gingerbread houses taught me how flavours and ingredients vary across cultures, and how each recipe reflects the history and lifestyle of the people who created it. I enjoyed seeing how food can teach us about cultural identity, migration, and the importance of sharing meals.

Working with classmates helped me improve my organisation and teamwork. We had to communicate well, divide tasks, and support each other to make sure our dishes turned out successfully. These experiences made the kitchen feel like a collaborative space where everyone contributed.

One of the biggest things I learned this semester is that food is more than just something we eat—it can express tradition, tell a story, and bring people together. Cooking dishes from different cultures opened my mind to new flavours and ideas, and it has encouraged me to try cooking more diverse foods at home.

Overall, I feel proud of how much I’ve improved, both as a cook and as someone who understands the cultural significance of food. I’m looking forward to continuing my learning next semester and exploring even more global cuisines.

We are having a Food festival in food next week celebrating traditions and cultures. Natalia and I are making an Ambrosia supporting the Christmas tradition of New Zealanders. Unfortunately I will not make it to the baking or festival although I’m sure Natalia will do a superb job of our dish.

Invitation:

Dear friends and family,
You are warmly invited to come into our school and visit our Food Technology class for our Food Festival!

🕚 Date: December 5th
⏰ Time: 11:10 AM – 11:40 AM
📍 Location: Food Technology classroom

We have been working hard to create a range of delicious dishes, and we would love for you to come along, taste our food, and celebrate our learning with us.

We hope to see you there!

Recently I have competed in a Burger competition in food. It went very well and I have gotten into the final of the competition. My burger looked delicious and worked very well. The ingredients I used were burger buns, beef patty with cheese in the middle, cheese, lettuce, onions ,eggs. It tasted very good and the judges liked it. I learnt alot and had lots of fun.

We are making burgers in food and experimenting with different meat patties and different types of Burger buns.

So far we have done: scone and pre made, flatbread and beef , ciabatta and chicken, brioche and lamb

The Scone and pre made patties burger was the first burger we made. The Scone cooked well and tasted a lot better than we expected although it didn’t quite match the taste of a burger so it was a little off. The patties was very flat so we could barely taste it. Overall it tasted alright, although just not a traditional burger taste.

The flat bread and beef burger was the second burger we made. The patties worked well and tasted good with the right amount of spices. The flat bread was not good for a burger as the taste did not match the burger taste at all and was too thin. The texture from the flat bread was very interesting.

The Ciabatta and chicken burger was the third burger we made. It tasted pretty good and worked well. The ciabatta was a little bit hard but was more like a burger bun than the other ones. The chicken tasted alright but was a little bit tough and the crumb tasted interesting. It tasted pretty good all together though.

The Brioche and lamb was the lastest burger we made. It tasted the best so far. The brioche tasted very good as a burger bun and the lamb was a good amount of meat and it worked very well together.

I would like to try a Brioche and beef patties as I think that would be the best from what we’ve tried to far. Would you like to try that?

One thing I liked about this bun was that it worked well with the burger ingredients and was soft to eat.
A challenge I noticed with this bun was getting it the right size/shape and then it not crumbling/falling apart when we were assembling it.
 Next time, I would try to stack the burger better so it doesn’t fall apart and a different style of bun as it had an interesting taste to it.

We have been creating pizza’s in food with different toppings and base’s. We have done 3 pizzas so far and we would say the first pizza’s toppings were the best, although the second pizza’s base was better and the last was the worst in general. The first pizza’s toppings had ham, cheese,capsicum, onion, spring onion, etc. The second toppings were frozen vegetables such as peas and carrots, capsicum, bacon,onion, etc and it would’ve been alright if it didn’t have frozen vegetables on it. The first pizza’s dough was scone dough and was good, just a little hard. although the second pizza was better. Which was real shop made pizza dough and we stuffed the crust with garlic and cheese, the dough was really soft and airy.  The peas put us off the second pizza’s topping and the first dough was just slightly hard.  The last pizza we made was flat bread and that was not that good as the base was super hard and not that nice for a pizza base, and the toppings were minimal so in general just not a good pizza although still edible. In conclusion, our favourite pizza would have to be the first one although the ideal pizza would be the first pizza’s topping and the second pizza’s dough.

Link

Here is a link to my concept design slides.

I have been working on lemon meringue pie . My twist on this Kiwi Classic is swapping the lemon with strawberry and maltesers on top . 

My first concept design is changing it from lemon filling to strawberry filling. Positive: It won’t be zesty . Negative:That it might be clumpy and not smooth.

My second concept design is Blueberry filling instead of lemon. Positive: It will be tastier and won’t be zesty. Negative: It might not settle well. 

My third concept design is Chocolate filling instead of lemon. Positively it will be a better consistency than the berry ones. Negative: It might be too sweet.

I have chosen concept design 3. The reason I have chosen this concept is because it will be very tasty and will have a good consistency. It won’t have a fake, zesty or tangy taste to it..

1st Trial:

We made Strawberry meringue pie’s for our first trial.

The meringue turned out really well.The Strawberry was a bit clumpy and tasted fake.

We changed the flavor to Blueberry for the second trial.

2nd Trial:

We made Blueberry meringue pie for our second trial.

The pastry was perfectly cooked.The meringues didn’t thicken and were flat.

We changed the flavor to Chocolate for the final trial.

3rd Trial:

We made Chocolate meringue pies for our final trial. 

The chocolate filling was really good consistency and the meringue turned out well. The pastries were slightly overcooked.I think this trial will suit the stakeholder.

We are learning to hack in stem.