My First Contest Ever

Showcasing our skill physically can be so fun. It will come with so much joy and the hyping from supporters can make one feel on a rollercoaster. I have not really had or been in many offline contests. But one of the ones I can recall is a cooking contest.

That was in my third year in university. I was walking with a friend back to the hostel after lectures when a man approached us with forms convincing us to join a contest. He mentioned so many things to be won for the first three winners.

It was one way of promoting their Noodles brand and making more sales. My friend said she needed a blender but can't join because she can't cook well and might not be among those to be selected. She agreed to pick the form for me for 500 naira. We filled in and they told me to expect an invitation email for the contest.

Source

After three days from the initial day, this company brought all the heavy duty equipment, set up the mini stadium for the event. The excitement of getting a congratulatory message was overwhelming and seeing the set up grew my conviction on how big an occasion it was. Different ingredients were made available for so many dishes. Ranging from rice, noodles, soup and yam. If you choose yam, you are making egg sauce, rice, you are making jollof rice, soup is egusi soup with garri.

First, we started with 12 contestants cooking noodles. After which the judges did the first screening and we were left with six contestants. I got lucky to be among the six left and we went into the final round. Then, we were to cook different kinds of food. Mine was to cook rice and the time limit was 40 minutes for the dishes. The rules were read and we began the cooking. Many finished before others and seriously I was among the last people to finish.

In the end, others set their tables, dished out their food and I was still tidying up my surroundings. At last I dished out jollof rice and waited to hear what the judges would say.

After long waiting hours the judges gave their result. I didn't win the contest but the experience was great. That being my first contest opened me to lots of understanding. I neglected lots of things like not keeping my surroundings tidy until I finished cooking,
The rice was not tender and I didn't finish on time.

After that experience, I learnt so much from the contest, sometimes it is not who started the race that won but those with skill and strategies which were what I lacked. The whole experience taught me that life is all about learning and unlearning what we already know.

To me I felt my jollof rice tasted the best but after the judges spoke, I realized that even when the food wasn't salty they still felt the quantity I used was noticed and due to that, I didn't emerge as a winner. Regardless, my happiness knew no bounds as the experience remained in me as a great lesson and memory.