A HOST of exotic dishes like South African Braai with Monkey Gland Sauce were on an Olympic menu devised by youngsters for the annual Come Dine with Oakfield.

Guests including the Mayor of Swindon Eric Shaw, enjoyed international cuisine featuring Brazilian Estragonofe de Frango, Greek spinach and feta tart, Mexican vegetarian quiche and Italian antipasto when they sat down to eat at the Oakfield Project’s base in Walcot yesterday.

Lead youth worker Paul Wainwright said: “It went off really well. The young people, from the beginning to the end, worked really hard.

“It was a team effort between the staff and the young people.”

The year 10 students chose the Rio Olympics as their theme for this year’s lunch and for the first time they decided to do it buffet-style.

“Before it all the children did a food hygiene course, but of course we are not professional cooks, so it was a learning process.”

Even so their guests from Swindon Town Football Club, local schools, Nationwide, Rotary and Swindon College were impressed with their culinary efforts. Mr Shaw gave them ten out of ten.

“It is part of our process here. They cook, they go to college one morning a week to learn other vocational skills and we have lots of outdoor activities – walks, overnight camps - and they all do first aid,” explained Mr Wainwright.

“It is a mixture of teaching and youth work.”

He said they were asked what theme they wanted and they decided on the Rio games. They then had to research menus from different countries taking part in the Olympics.

“It was a good choice because they started to research and they picked up a little bit of history and geography from that research.”

He added that the monkey gland sauce had not really contained monkey glands.

The menu carried on the Olympic theme with desserts like Triathlon trifle, mini fruit javelins and a modern pentathlon chocolate mousse.

The project, launched five years ago, is an alternative education provider which is funded and backed by five secondary schools in the town. It offers formal academic education alongside informal learning to children who are at risk of being permanently excluded from mainstream education.

Come Dine with Oakfield gives the students a chance to show local dignitaries, sportspeople and friends of the project, what they do.