Cooking for communities at desert Dust Up

Students recently received a taste of the hospitality industry while helping feed hundreds of eventgoers at the annual Dust Up sporting carnival in WA’s central desert.

Earlier this month, students from communities and schools across the central desert attended the Ngaanyatjarra Lands Dust Up, a three-day community celebration featuring activities such as football, basketball and running. 

Keeping more than 300 hungry athletes, teachers and community members fed at an event 2500 km away is a major operation. 

That’s where Prepare, Produce, Provide (PPP) came in. 

PPP’s hospitality program invited high school students from across Perth into a full-scale commercial kitchen to prepare nearly two tonnes of food for the carnival, while also allowing them to gain practical skills and experience. 

PPP coordinator Tanya Healy said the program provided students with a unique opportunity to experience what a career in hospitality could look like. 

“They’re growing really good hospitality experience,” she said. 

“They get a really good insight into full-scale kitchen production.  

“They have to work as a team, they have to listen to instructions, and they just basically come out feeling confident and excited about the food that they’ve produced.” 

For students, the experience is a big step up from cooking at home. 

Claire, one of the participating students from Armadale Senior High School, said the scale and variety of the operation had provided a new challenge. 

“I’m just used to normal home kitchen cooking, like your box cupcakes, not a lot of things from scratch,” she said. 

“This is like 450 of each thing.” 

From chocolate balls to chicken, Thai green curry to lasagna, students work together to prepare hundreds of portions of food for the three-day event. 

For Mrs Healy, it is about more than simply preparing meals. 

“If you can see it, you can be it,” she said. 

“We’re all about creating pathways and training for young youth, and this is just a very unique opportunity for them to gain insight into that.” 

More information about Prepare, Produce, Provide is available on its website.