September 2009

Is catering for special diets a headache? - be inspired.

Catering for the requirements of all your customers can be a minefield these days. Not only do they want a wide-ranging menu packed with delicious, well presented delights, they also ask probing questions about the ingredients in each and every dish.

Help is at hand with the Cordon Vert School’s Vegan Chef Workshop, designed to help professional chefs cater more creatively for special diets and tap into the growing vegan market.

Cooking without meat, fish, eggs, milk and cheese sounds daunting but it often takes just a few small changes to make vegan food available and in the process improve business. As well as bringing in new customers, most vegan food has the bonus of being affordable, and often provides big profit margins. More information about courses, dates and prices is available at www.cordonvert.co.uk or call Jane on 0161 925 2014 email jane@vegsoc.org

Nigel Winter, of the Vegan Society, said, “High-quality vegan food is a great solution for caterers because it appeals to just about everyone - it's tasty, healthy, ethical and planet-friendly. It will open up your establishment to meat-reducers, vegetarians, people who have cut down on animal products for health reasons and people whose religion encourages them to forgo meat.”

This one-day workshop provides a thorough understanding of what vegans do and don’t eat and will give you the confidence to be able to offer vegans a diverse menu. You will learn what to consider when making pastry, pancakes, mayonnaise and sandwiches as well as how easily everyday recipes can be made vegan by substituting simple ingredients.

The course is a hands-on workshop in which chefs will make a variety of dishes covering a range of catering needs from gastro-pub, small hotel or guesthouse entertaining to fine dining, buffet dishes and creative sandwich fillings. Desserts will include panacotta (using a vegan setting agent) and vegan pancakes.

Registration is at 9.30am, course commences at 10.00am with an aproximate finish time of 4.30pm.

The Cordon Vert school has an unrivalled reputation for excellent and innovative vegetarian cuisine drawing on a variety of international flavours and ingredients reflecting current trends in world cuisine with fresh and imaginative ideas.

Courses run throughout the year and are taught by Cordon Vert's team of highly qualified and enthusiastic tutors. A relaxed, friendly approach ensures an atmosphere in which individual talent and creativity are positively encouraged.

The Cordon Vert school, based in Altrincham, Cheshire, has been feeding the imagination since 1982.

Notes for editors

· For press information, course dates, tips, recipes, information or pictures please contact the Press Officer on 0161 925 2000 or press@vegsoc.org, mobile 07973 108 165/7, visit www.vegsoc.org/press

· World Vegan Day is the 1st November, the start of World Vegan Month.