Chef of the Future – winners announced

Following fierce competition and a tasty cook off, the °Cordon Vert Chef of the Future contest winners have been announced to coincide with National Vegetarian Week.

The °Cordon Vert School launched the competition in March setting out to find the new vegetarian chefs of the future and to offer them the chance to show their potential by taking part in an exciting culinary competition.

Chefs submitted a three course meal, suitable for vegetarians. Competition finalists then produced their menu at the cook off held at the °Cordon Vert School in Cheshire. Here are the winners and finalists with their menus to whet your appetite.

The °Cordon Vert Chef of the Future 2009 joint winners are Barry Tonkinson, from the Lanesborough Hotel, London and Eddie Shepherd, from Mono, Glasgow. Both have been awarded a scholarship for a Cordon Vert Diploma, worth in excess of £1,500.

Barry’s winning menu consisted of:

Eddie’s winning menu consisted of:

Katie Douglass, Catering Services Manager at the Vegetarian Society, said, ”The Chef of the Future contest set out to find the chefs with talent, promise, creativity and new ideas. The winning chefs in the final cook off certainly had that, it was really exciting to watch them in the kitchen and even better to taste their creations. We hope they enjoy the °Cordon Vert Diploma and look forward to seeing how inspired they are.”

Each winner will receive a prize package. This will include a personalised chef’s jacket, a year’s membership to the Vegetarian Society, a vegetarian hamper of products and the scholarship for a Cordon Vert Diploma.

Peter Walters, from Keele University, received a Highly Commended award for his menu which consisted of:

Runner up in the competition was Mark Stott of the Ginger Vegetarian Café, Halifax.

Mark’s menu consisted of:

National Vegetarian Week 2009 18-24 May 2009 is sponsored by Cauldron Foods.

NOTES TO EDITORS

· For more information please contact Su in the Press Office on 0161 925 2012 or email su@vegsoc.org . Outside office hours the Vegetarian Society Press Office can be contacted on 07973 108 165/ 7.

· Images of finalists and their dishes are available please contact the press office.

· Comments and quotes from the judges are also available.

Chefs submitted a three course meal, suitable for vegetarians. The submission needed to include a menu, ingredients, weights and measures, detailed descriptions of each dish and presentation notes. Competition finalists then produced their menu at the cook off held at the °Cordon Vert School in Cheshire.