SIXTH-Form students at Wadham School in Crewkerne cooked up a storm during their international food festival competition.

Students planned, shopped for and prepared meals from around the world including countries such as Nepal, Japan, Germany, Fiji, the Dominican Republic, China and Russia.

Before tucking into the food, each team made recipe sheets for their dishes and used displays they had created to give a short presentation about the culture behind the cuisine.

And students went home with an International Food Fest Recipe Book put together from their work.

Highlights of the day included a goat curry prepared by Nepalese student Naresh Gautam.

Japanese students Toru Arai and Naoko Egashira and their team prepared a cabbage -based dish called okonomiyaki, and Reshita Gounder, from Fiji, made onion bhajis and tasty chutneys.

Reshita explained to other students how preparing a meal in Fiji can take up to six hours as, without ovens, people dig pits in the ground and use charcoal as fuel.

Although the team who prepared Chinese dishes won the competition based on budgeting, cooking and teamwork, the food prepared by German student Freddie Stubs and his group met with great acclaim.

Daly Bryant, from the Dominican Republic, also shone with her fried aubergine and maize-flour fritters.

Tom Russell, of the winning team, said: "This is really tasty stuff! I like cooking and I should make time to do more of it."