Hosted by Moree Secondary College, in partnership with the National Heart Foundation and supported by Moree Reconciliation committee, this year’s Reconciliation Cook-Off was bigger and better than last year’s with more teams and a larger crowd.

The new location of Kirkby Park this year proved a winner, as dozens of people gathered to watch the teams battle it out to make the best healthy meal.

The six teams – Moree Reconciliation Week committee, Moree police, Miyay Birray Youth Service, Pius X Aboriginal Corporation, Moree East Public School staff and Moree Secondary College students – each randomly picked a bag of groceries which contained a recipe given the tick of by the National Heart Foundation.

The Reconciliation committee team cooked kangaroo mince spaghetti bolognese, the Moree East team made beef stir fry with giner, the police team made chicken curry with lemon and pepper, the Miyay Birray team cooked kangaroo curry, the Pius team made seafood paella and finally, the student team tried their hand at salmon fish cakes.

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Provided with all ingredients and equipment needed to make each recipe, teams were given an hour to cook their dishes before presenting their meal to the four judges – Marion Nelio, Gail Sampson, Kaye Berger and Kevin Johns.

Judges awarded points for taste, colour and presentation.

While all the dishes proved a success, there could only be one winner.

Ultimately, the Moree East team were declared the Make Healthy Normal Moree Reconciliation Cook-Off champions for their delicious beef stir fry.

The cook-off is part of NSW Health and National Heart Foundation campaign to ‘Make Healthy Normal’.

Andy Mark from the National Heart Foundation was in Moree for the cook-off on Tuesday and said anyone can organise to run their own cook-off.

“The idea is showing people that it’s easy to cook, it’s affordable and to show that healthy eating is fun and does taste great,” he said.

Cook-off organiser Janine French said this year’s event was a huge success, and that the decision to hold the event at Kirkby Park paid off.

“It’s grown from last year,” she said.

“We’ll make it a regular thing now.”

Everyone who attended the event was able to get a taste of each of the six dishes, as well as enjoying curry and damper. Recipes were available for people to take to make at home.

Pius X Aboriginal Corporation was also conducting free health risk assessments and blood pressure checks and the Yuligi Yurrandali (dancing goanna) dance group entertained the crowd once the cooking was finished.

Reconciliation Week continues until Sunday, with many more great events coming up.

On Wednesday there will be a Homes North morning tea at 10am, a Reconciliation maintenance pop-up day at Cooee Park from 10am to 2pm, a dance and language event at Moree East from 12pm to 1.45pm and the Reconciliation Games at 3pm. The Moree Aboriginal Cemetery remembrance laying of plaques will be at 10am on Thursday and the Reconciliation Week Gala Awards night will be at 6pm on Friday, June 1. On Sunday, June 3 will be a Reconciliation church service at Salvation Army at 9.30am.