Dornoch cookery students win at national competition in London

Professional Cookery students Ted, Finlay and Holly have been congratulated recently following their success at the Zest Quest Asia finals.

The team prevailed in two categories, winning ‘Most Sustainable Menu’ and ‘Best Creative Use of Mizkan Japanese Seasonings’. They travelled to London for the competition where they demonstrated their expertise, creativity, knowledge, and appreciation of Asian cuisine in a live cook-off against other college finalists.

Following the competition, the team and their lecturer, Simon Rodgers, attended the gala dinner where they were presented with their awards.

Simon said: “The whole Zest quest event was superb; the students can certainly be very proud of how they performed. To make the top 6 colleges nationally out of 28 entries is amazing, but to then go down to compete against some well-versed teams from much larger colleges/universities, many of whom have been involved in this competition for years is just brilliant. We were the first ever team from Scotland to ever make the final which is a huge achievement."

The students won two prizes from the event, including an all-expenses paid trip to London to visit Japan House and a brand new under-counter dish washer for the Burghfield training kitchen at UHI North Highland’s Dornoch campus.

Simon said: “A massive thank you to Ardgay Game, Sutherland Game & Shellfish and SHORE seaweed for providing such wonderful ingredients. Their support was a massive contributor towards our team securing the sustainability prize.”

Applications are now open for our Hospitality and Professional Cookery courses starting this September.

Find out more about the Zest Quest Asia competition at https://zestquestasia.org/