Kate Underwood of The Chip Group with champion chippies Winnie and Michael Huang of Oppies
This is going to be a world first, all hot chip outlets in one North Island town have decided to team up to provide healthier chips and become the Best Chip Town in New Zealand.
The idea comes from The Chip Group, a national organisation established to help reduce the impact of hot chips on our diet through healthier cooking processes, and less added salt.
Now The Chip Group is putting its initiatives to the ultimate test and the people of Matamata and surrounds will be its ‘guinea pigs’. All hot chip sellers in Matamata, around 20 different outlets, have agreed to complete The Chip Group’s training in the National Standards for Deep Fried Chips and convert to these standards.
The Chip Group 2013 Town Make-over, will officially launch on February 25 with a training seminar in the Matamata Memorial Hall for all of the town’s chip operators to complete the National Standards for Deep Fried Chips. A highlight of the seminar will be an address by champion chippie, Michael Huang, of Oppies Takeaways in Rotorua, winner of the 2011 Best Chip Competition.
The aim is for each outlet in Matamata to produce great tasting chips that have less than 10% fat.
The Chip Group training and education manager, Kate Underwood says once everyone has completed the training and had a chance to utilise the new techniques we will take sample of their chips which will be sent to a lab for testing and we expect there to be a significant reduction in the fat content.
“By the end of this process we want to be able to make a statement to say that we have helped remove (amount) kg of fat from the Matamata food supply in 2013.”
Kate says this is a fantastic opportunity for the rural Waikato town. It will increase interest in the town, boost the local chippie trade and may even lead to people coming from outside the area just to enjoy the best chips in New Zealand from the Best Chip Town. The town is already well known for its Hobbiton connection, so it already attracts a lot of visitors who presumably buy food to eat. Imagine if they spread the word about how great the chips are.
For more information about The Chip Group go to www.thechipgroup.co.nz
