Held in the College’s Trevenson Restaurant on campus, invited guests included chefs from hotels and restaurants throughout the county, forum committee members and sponsors including Champagne Tattinger, Total Produce and Clifton Food Range.
Celebrity TV chef and restaurateur Antony Worrall Thompson also popped in to show his support for the event, sampling some of the delicious canapés made using fresh local produce and prepared by the College’s catering students.
Set up with the aim of bridging the gap between education and industry, to inspire young chefs and front-of-house professionals, the Cornwall launch of The Chefs’ Forum comes after the creation of a very successful regional model and prides itself on sharing industry knowledge and best practice in professional kitchens and catering colleges throughout the South West.
Founder Catherine Farinha explained: “We launched in Bristol the January before last and now we’re very pleased to be launching here in Cornwall. It’s a strategy that’s worked. We only started out as a local organisation, but employer relations improved to such a level that there was a need to do the same in Devon. Then Dorset chefs started asking if it was possible to do the same in their area and then it only seemed right that we include Cornwall. Cornwall’s often seen as too far down to be able to access, but having worked on publications in the region in the past, I am more than aware of the sheer abundance of excellent chefs and produce down here, so it seemed like a no-brainer really.”
Catherine continued: “I was delighted with the level of attendance at the event by some of the best chefs in the region. It’s great to see the initiative being so well-received. I really look forward to keeping the momentum going by staging quarterly chef events in Cornwall to showcase the most promising catering and hospitality students, enhance chefs' skill-sets and share industry knowledge and best-practice.”
After meeting some of the students who had prepared canapés and served guests at the event, Antony Worrall Thompson commented: “I think events like this are amazingly important for students. When you think about Cornwall, a lot of employment here is in the service industry and tourism. You’ve got a magnificent farming industry down here, so there’s great local produce. Youngsters need encouraging to stay in our industry and it’s a very hard industry, there’s no doubt about it. I think it gets harder and harder to attract youngsters, so if you’ve got some top chefs getting involved with colleges like this, it does a lot to inspire them.”
Stuart Mathieson, Head of Hospitality at Cornwall College Camborne and forum committee member, said: “Today’s launch is a tremendous opportunity for chefs and front of house people to get together, which is good for the industry and as a consequence, good for the county. As the largest college for hospitality training in the county, we have always had a strong, and direct, liaison with employers. We look forward to working closely with The Chef’s Forum to strengthen and consolidate our link with employers, students and producers in the region and consolidate our already high level of catering provision in Cornwall.”
