Portsmouth young chefs cook up a treat and win industry plaudits

At the Junior Chef Academy 2020 graduation held at Highbury College, were praised for completing a tough-going training programme during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Back in March, eight 14-16 year olds were picked from 50 applicants from schools to start the 10-week series of masterclasses.

The intense training set out to teach them a variety of culinary skills at a professional level.

Tilly Yeats, a 15-year-old finalist from Oaklands Catholic School, said she enjoyed experiencing the professional environment.

She said: ‘My favourite part about the course was being able to learn new skills you wouldn’t usually learn at school.

‘I think it was useful because if you want to become a chef when you’re older you got a sense of what it’s like in the workplace.’

Bob Brown from Compass Group UK, which sponsors the event, praised the young chefs’ ability to progress and overcome the difficulties that coronavirus presented.

At the graduation he said: ‘I can now call you chefs.

‘It’s been such strange times but let’s look at the positive side and see the journey you’ve made.”

The original plan was for the teenagers to hone their cooking skills by attending the evening sessions after school over the summer.

However, due to coronavirus, classes were temporarily put on hold, as Craig Mincher, director of employer and commercial services at Highbury College explained.

He said: ‘The Junior Chef Academy was interrupted by the first lockdown but we were delighted to get up and running again in September.

‘It’s really important the students can gain experience in professional kitchens which The Academy offered.’

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The young chefs soon progressed from learning new skills to recreating well-known restaurant dishes, with Leanne Turk, lead development chef at Compass singling out the poultry week as being the most popular with students.

She said: ‘They got very creative with flavours and made chicken katsu curry – they were mirroring Wagamama’s food.’

The masterclasses were designed to inspire these young chefs to go on to further professional training and then work within the industry.

For more information on Highbury College courses click here

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