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Winner of LACA School Chef of the Year 2010 Meals                                                                                        July 2010

Suzanne Duncan new LACA School Chef of the Year

Scotland's Suzanne Duncan named Britain's School Chef of the Year 2010 following a cook-off final in Sheffield.

Suzanne, aged 39, works for North Ayrshire Council at Irvine Royal Academy and pipped 10 other finalists with her menu of Turkey Kebabs with Summer Salsa accompanied by a Mini Yogurt Dip and Flat Bread followed by a dessert of Strawberry Cupcake and Milkshake.

She won her place in the final after coming out on top in the Scotland and North of England Region of the competition organised by the Local Authority Caterers' Association and sponsored Nestle Professional.

A school cook for eight years, Suzanne doesn't confine her culinary activities to the school kitchen. The mother of three turns out novelty and wedding cakes at home, plus home-made jams and preserves that sell well at local craft fairs.

The Highly Commended Main Course award at the final went to Tanya Watkin of Eden Foodservice. She works at Eaton Bray Lower School in Bedfordshire and took her place in the final as the Eastern Region winner.

Her winning main course dish was Lamb and Filo Scrunchy.

The Highly Commended Dessert award was won by Katherine Breckon, who works for North Yorkshire County Caterers, the school meals provider for North Yorkshire County Council.

She won through from the Yorkshire & Humber Region and triumphed in the dessert category with her Howards Delight.

This year for the first time the competition included an award for the best marketing table - the presentation supporting an entry that explains the inspiration, a bit about the ingredients and how the food can be promoted in schools.

The winner was Elizabeth Bourebonnneaux, who works at Dickens Heath Community School for Solihull Catering Services. Her competrition dishes were Spicy Chicken Curry folllowed by Chocolate Shortbread Delight.

The final took place at Sheffield City College on May 11-12 where the judging was led by Steve Oram, development chef with competition sponsor Nestle Professional.

This annual competition puts the preparation, cooking, creativity and presentation skills of school chefs to the test with each entrant required to produce, in just one and a half hours, a healthy balanced two-course meal comprising of a main course and dessert that would appeal to 11-year-olds in school.

The dishes must conform to the National Food Based Nutritional Standards and can be made up of poultry, meat, fish and non-meat proteins.

A maximum of £1.25 per head is allowed for the food cost of a main course and dessert for one child.

East Ayrshire Council Pioneers School Meals Scheme                                                                                    July 2010

All schools and nurseries in East Ayrshire county council have joined a pioneering scheme to use more local, organic and unprocessed food for meals. The scheme, supported also by the Scottish Executive, costs an extra 10-15p for each of 8-9,000 lunches served on school days. An independent report for the local authority, meanwhile, estimated that benefits such as lower food miles, extra employment and income for the local economy and reduced future health risks (especially cancers) were worth six times the project's cost.