A Masterchef at Uni

Masterchef contestant Jay Huxley is on a mission: to get university students to eat healthier. For decades students have turned to two-minute noodles and pizza for a quick, cheap feed but last Tuesday students at several University of Western Sydney campuses got a food lesson from a ‘pro’.

Although eliminated early, Huxley was popular with viewers on this year’s Masterchef and has found much work catering for corporate and celebrity events. As fruitful as this may be, it is in getting young Australian’s to eat better that Huxley has found his true calling.

Returning to his hometown of Penrith, the young chef aimed to prove that quick and healthy meals are achievable for anyone, including on-the-go university students.
“When I visited the Uni to set this demonstration up, all I saw were pizza boxes, piled up against walls, I thought that was all students ate!” he said.

National Health Surveys conducted in 2008 showed that sixty-one percent of Australian adults were overweight or obese. In 2009, the National Preventative Health Taskforce commissioned a report with a finding that one in four Australian children are overweight.

The report also confirmed Australia is ranked fifth out of the signets to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Convention (OECD countries), just behind the United States, Greece, Mexico and Britain.

This month, the University is also holding a competition open to students and the public, where by entrants submit recipes that are healthy, locally sourced, and cost effective to be compiled into a Student Community Cookbook.
The aim is to have the cookbook published as a resource for students on the go, with categories such as ‘quick and easy’, ‘budget buster’ and ‘organic’. The winner of the best recipe wins five hundred dollars towards their choice of charity, and gift cards will be awarded to winners of each category.

The cookbook project also aims to create a ‘local food index’ with where to find the best local produce and markets in the greater Sydney region.

These events and competitions are all part of the ‘Greening UWS’ project, which includes other ventures to address such as issues as recycling, waste management and energy efficiency.

Visit Jay’s website at http://jayhuxley.com

By Aideen Brady and Cassie Sweeny
Photo: Western Weekender