A young aspiring chef from Nottinghamshire is celebrating after being crowned the winner of a competition to find the region’s most talented young chefs.
Ella Lovejoy, 15, from Toot Hill School in Bingham, beat tough competition and will now head to London in March to represent the East Midlands in the UK-wide Springboard FutureChef 2023 final.
Ella won her spot after impressing the judges with her cooking skills during the competition hosted at West Notts College.
Ella and six other competitors went head-to-head in the regional finals, which saw them receive 90 minutes to prepare a main course and a dessert. The dishes were judged by a panel of industry professionals, including Richard Ward from the Education and Skills Group, along with Matthew Mosley and Simon Coulter from Compass Group UK & Ireland, with Ella blowing judges away with her Pan-Fried Wild Seabass and Lemon Meringue Tart with Berries.
Speaking of her win, Ella said: “Leading up to the competition, I was grateful and privileged to have MasterChef’s Hira Thakur as a mentor – who supported me and has given me such great opportunities. Cooking for her in a fine dining restaurant prepared me well for the regionals as I had the mindset nothing could be more nerve-racking than that! The other competitors at the regionals were so nice, and everyone’s dishes were amazing – so I was delighted to have won. I am very excited about the finals!”
Aiming to find the UK’s best young chefs and up-and-coming industry stars, FutureChef is an initiative from Springboard – a charity that is committed to nurturing young talent and promoting hospitality as a great place to work.
Since the annual Springboard FutureChef competition began in 1999, almost 200,000 young people aged 12-16 have taken part, with many going on to establish themselves within the industry. It is now the UK’s largest school culinary competition, with a long list of successful alumni, including April Partridge, who went on to complete an apprenticeship with The IVY in London, and Katie Cooper who went on to do an apprenticeship at UCB with the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and is now a Home Economist for the BBC’s The Great British Menu.
For more information on FutureChef, visit https://futurechef.uk.net/