Invercargill pie maker Janine Peligrino came second at this month’s Bakels NZ Apprentice Pie Competition for her gourmet pie, which was influenced by her Filipino heritage.
Ms Peligrino, who works for The Pieoneer in Grasmere, said she wanted to give the judges something new.
‘‘I’ve always thought about what’s something different about me compared to the rest of the participants — my culture.’’
She based the pie on a popular dish in the Philippines, Spain and Latin America called arroz a la cubana.
It typically consists of eggs, rice and fried banana, sometimes served with tomato sauce as well.
‘‘It’s a meal in a pie — it’s got the meat, quail eggs, then you get banana and vegetables in it.’’
When her co-workers tasted the pie, they said it reminded them of lasagna, and she also got good feedback from her boss.
‘‘He said it tasted really good, I just did a bit of tweaking of how I would present it in a pie.’’
Leading up to the competition she did ‘‘three weeks straight of work’’, which included working Monday to Friday and every weekend.
‘‘I’m glad I’ve got the right people to back me up and they are fully supporting me.’’
She started working for Pieoneer in January and has loved the creative freedom, saying it had allowed her to ‘‘think of something different’’.
Coming to New Zealand in 2019 to study sports and exercise at the Southern Institute of Technology, she soon met her future partner and decided to stay.
Ms Peligrino described adjusting to the Southland climate as quite a shock.
After looking for a job, she landed a position at New World making bread.
Though she enjoyed it, she became interested in pastry making, leading her to get a pastry apprenticeship.
This gave her the opportunity to enter the pie competition, something she is grateful for.
‘‘My boss has given me 100% freedom to do whatever I want, and it has paid off.’’
Her creation came second in the gourmet pie category, with only half a point of difference between her and first place.
‘‘It was gutting. I cried when I found out the result, both from happiness and a feeling of ‘what if?’.’’
She had come a long way since starting in January.
‘‘If you asked me six months ago, would I believe that I got this award, I would say no.’’
