A group of Moray youngsters hope that a Mexican-inspired soup they created will dispel myths about veganism when it hits the shelves.
Pupils at Milne’s High School were tasked by Baxters to create a new vegan recipe to tie in with the growing global trend.
Four teams of finalists visited the food labs at the Fochabers firm yesterday to put the finishing touches to their creations.
A tomato-based soup branded Mexican fiesta, with guacamole, was picked as the winner by industry judges.
The flavour will now be canned by Baxters before going on sale in its shop at the factory, as well as added to the menu in its restaurant for visitors.
This year was the fourth time that the company has tasked Milne’s High students with creating their own soup recipes.
Yesterday Baxters revealed that secondary schools across the region will be invited to take part in future versions of the annual competition, to tap into the cooking talents of even more youngsters.
Matthew McLuckie, who was part of the team of winning S2 pupils, hopes the recipe will dispel preconceptions about vegan food.
He said: “Choosing to become vegan is definitely growing. There are a lot more people interested in where their food comes from and the welfare of animals.
“There are some preconceived ideas that vegan food can be quite boring. We wanted to do something that was nutritional, tasty and vegan. We know Mexican food is very popular too.”
Matthew and his fellow cooks Emma Geddes, Hannah Robertson and Tommy Ireland also devised a marketing campaign to promote their fiesta concoction to the world.
Sandy Young, who works in human resources at the firm, hopes more creative flavours will be devised by expanding the scheme to all of Moray’s secondary schools.
He said: “We’re going to invite all of them to take part next year because the format has worked so well and has included various parts of the curriculum.
“We also recognise there is a range of extremely good talent across the area and we want to see what recipes they will come up with too while making them aware of career opportunities at Baxters.”