Young Chef 2018

The Rotary Young Chef competition, one of a number of prestigious competitions organised by Rotary for young people, has been running for 17 years and it is still going strong.

This year the Cranleigh Club sponsored two students, Arunni Meedeniya and Kitty Shepphards, and both gained a place in the District Final by being the runners up in their respective semi-finals. The winner was Kitty Grosse, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Fleet, and the runner up was Jasmine Williams-Richardson.

Congratulations to all those who took part!

The competition began in 1999 when a Rotarian from the Godalming Club realised that there was a National Final in operation that nobody had ever mentioned at meetings.

He contacted other clubs and arranged a meeting to form an operating committee. Soon the competition developed into a yearly event and from two schools taking part in the first year (2000), to around 50 in 2018.

Students between the ages of 11 and 17 are allowed to take part, and in our District 1145 the response to the competition has been excellent. Really talented young students take part annually and in the past 8 years the National Final had a student from our District, including three outright winners.

The judges in the competition are all members of the Craft Guild of Chefs, an association linked to the Worshipful Company of Cooks. Master Craftsman Omero Gallucci, the District Senior Judge, tells people how he has seen dishes produced for the Rotary competition that could gain a place in the National Chef of the Year competition that the Guild organises every year.