Exciting new judges lined up for UCB Young Chef of the Year - entries now open!

Acclaimed street food star Lee Desanges - who achieved fame for cooking over charcoal under the bonnet of a 1964 Mini Cooper through his Baked in Brick business - is one of the exciting, new judges for University College Birmingham’s Young Chef of the Year competition – entries now open to the region’s 14-16 year olds.

And, in a first for the competition, the panel also includes two young, female professional chefs taking the industry by storm – Garima Poddar, a celebrity chef in her native country of India, and Rebecca Boast, one of Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc OBE’s senior tutors at his exclusive cookery school at Belmond Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire.

Appealing to a whole new generation, the deliciously diverse trio will join longstanding judge Michelin-starred TV chef Glynn ‘Yummy Brummie’ Purnell, who owns Purnell’s in Birmingham, in the search for this year’s stand-out teen chef.

What all three new judges have in common is that they are all alumni of University College Birmingham, where they learnt their skills from award-winning chefs in the same state-of-the-art kitchens where Young Chef entrants who get through the application stage will do battle in January and February.

Neil Rippington, Dean of University College Birmingham’s College of Food and Hospitality Management, said: “We are so excited about this year’s new-look competition, which has a fresh, new theme focused on heritage and new judges that will resonate because of their diverse styles, eclectic mix of glittering careers within the industry, and even their gender.

“The industry has, traditionally, been dominated by men and having Garima and Rebecca on board reflects the amazing female talent coming through. They are both forces of nature and demonstrate to young people the sheer amount of incredible opportunities out there if you have the passion and perseverance, as well as natural flair.

"We had an all-female Young Chef final both last year and the year before and the tables are turning. Our new judges reflect that.”

This year’s entrants, who can enter themselves or be nominated by a teacher, are tasked with devising a hot main course and hot or cold dessert around the theme British and International, with absolutely no restrictions on ingredients. Entrants can get as creative as they like, their dishes just need to reflect their heritage in some way.

If they have what it takes to get through the application stage, they will then have 90 minutes to make two covers of each dish in a semi-final on 25 January 2020, with a final eight going through to the grand final on 29 February 2020.

The prizes

Following in the footsteps of last year’s winner, 14-year-old Neve Doy from Ridgewood School in Stourbridge, this year’s victor will receive a bundle of fantastic prizes.

These comprise an Apple iPad Air (64GB), a VIP masterclass with TV chef Glynn Purnell and lunch for three guests at Purnell’s restaurant and £500 of vouchers towards school cookery equipment. The winner will also receive one year’s membership to the Sorted Club from ultra-cool YouTube cooking channel SORTEDfood, which has two million subscribers and counts UCB alumni Ben Ebbrell and James Currie amongst its founders and cast. Membership will entitle them to recipes, podcasts, giveaways and print cookbooks.

Second and third place will also receive £300 and £200 towards school cookery equipment and £300 and £200 worth of Love2shop vouchers, respectively.

All entrants will also receive a professional chef’s jacket emblazoned with their name and Young Chef of the Year logo.

The closing date for entries is 30 November 2019.

For more information and to enter via an online form, visit the website. Any queries, email chefs@ucb.ac.uk

Judges Biographies