IF there's something that the tourism industry would not have to worry about, it is the abundance of local talents.
And the Outrigger On The Lagoon chef challenge for students of the Korotogo Andra High School showed that there are some top chefs in the making.
Even the resort executive chef and president of the Fiji Chefs Association, Shailesh Naidu was impressed with the level of skills showed by the 80 students who competed in the event.
"We were so impressed, my chefs were just amazed," Mr Naidu said.
"I would even use some of the meals prepared in the resort."
The challenge was part of the resort's community projects and was planned over the last three months.
"I knew that the school had a good Home Economics Department and kitchen and thought of having the challenge."
There were five classes of competition, which included the preparation of an egg dish, a chicken dish, a vegetable dish, a seafood dish and cake decoration.
Competitors were given between 30 to 60 minutes to prepare the dishes. For the cake decoration competition, students were given the same decoration ingredients.
Arishma Mistry, the Home Economics teacher of the school said most of the students were not Home Economics students.
"The interest was overwhelming and the response was the same for both boys and girls," she said.
The competition was in groups of two.
"We will have the grand finale sometime in October and it is going to be bigger and better," Mr Naidu said.
"The talent showcased by these students proves that we won't have to worry about future chefs. In fact, current chefs should be worried with the level of skills these students have.
"They had conducted a lot of research before the competition."