Getting a foot in the (kitchen) door of the culinary world can be challenging – trying to get hands-on experience with the industry’s best and brightest alongside hundreds of other aspiring chefs who are trying to get noticed is no mean feat. This daunting prospect unfortunately puts a lot of young cooks off pursuing a career in the kitchen, which is contributing to the current lack of skilled chefs working in the UK.
However, there is hope. Already a culinary institution and responsible for training many top chefs, Le Cordon Bleu is looking to give one aspiring young chef a phenomenal boost to their career with the launch of the 2016 UK Scholarship Award. Now in its fifth year and working in partnership with some of the country’s top chefs, Le Cordon Bleu will be offering the winner the opportunity to gain the skills they need to pursue their kitchen dreams with both technical qualifications and personal mentoring from the best in the business.
Keen cooks can apply to enter the competition online until 3 April. No previous professional cooking experience is required; all you need is to demonstrate some serious food passion to be in with a hope of getting through to the regional semi-finals. These will be run by the scholarship’s partner chefs: Anna Hansen (London and the South East), Simon Hulstone (South West), Will Holland (Wales), Frances Atkins (North) and Mark Greenaway (Scotland and Northern Ireland); all of whom will also be on the road during February to promote the scholarship and offer advice to any applicants.