"Let's Cook is not about which child cooks the best dish. It's about encouraging kids, and the whole family, to get in the kitchen and give cooking a try," he says.
Parmco general manager Trevor Preston says the response from schools has been so strong in this first year he is sure the company will be interested in making the cooking competition an annual event.
Rhodes Street School principal Shane Ngatai, a former chef himself, says the cooking classes are a favourite with students.
"The good thing about this is that cooking a Thai dish like they're doing today is not the usual sort of dish children would want to try cooking or would order at a restaurant.
"But they're really enjoying it," he says.
And for 12-year-old Elijah Walker-Roberts, who has been taking cooking classes at the school for four years, the visit by Brett McGregor acted as yet another spur to his avowed ambition: "I'm going to be a chef.
"It's been pretty cool working with Mr McGregor and having him teach us how to cook," he says.
Then he points towards the larb gai dish he's just helped create, and from which he's tried several heaped spoons.
"I've got the recipe for that in my head," he says.
"I'm going to make it at home this weekend."
