A student chef from Aylesbury has been chosen to represent England at the Young Chef Olympiad.
Joe Slater, 18, is currently a student at Westminster Kingsway College, which is one of the most prestigious hospitality and culinary arts schools in the country.
He also works as a part-time chef at The Chequers Inn in Weston Turville at weekends.
He will be among the student and apprentice chefs from around the world competing in the culinary battle across six continents and 24 time zones from January 31 to February 6.
Joe said: “I’ve learnt a lot at college over the past three years that is going to help, especially working in both the college restaurants. I know at colleges local to me there’s a lot more theory.
“It’s a lot more hands on here and you get the best experience.
“The facilities are very good and the lecturers have a lot knowledge to transfer to you."
The competition, founded by Indian entrepreneur Dr Surborno Bose and now in its eighth year, will be held online for a second year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Each participant will undertake a 30-minute skills test and then compete in a first round to make four portions of a vegetarian pasta dish and crème caramel.
The 10 best chefs will then go through to the next round where they will be asked to create a chicken dish with ingredients from a mystery basket.
They will have two and a half hours to complete each round and will be judged by an independent professional chef.
Each entrant is allowed a mentor to help prepare them for the competition.
He continued: It’s my first competition and I’m really excited.
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“It’s good experience and I’m ready for it.
“I heard about it a few weeks before Christmas.
“I found out the briefs and got on with preparing for it. It’s been going well.
“I’ve been practising the dish and we’ve put it on the college restaurant menu.”
Joe studied food technology at GCSE and decided he wanted to become a chef after hearing about WestKing when he was 15.
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WestKing Chef Lecturer Chris Basten, a former chair of the Craft Guild of Chefs, chose Joe to be WestKing’s entrant and is his mentor.
Chris guided former WestKing student Beth Collings, who now works at The Salt Room in Brighton, to win bronze in the competition in 2020.
Chris said: “I’ve been helping and supporting Joe as much as I can, not that he needs much tuition. It’s just about fine tuning what he does in the kitchen.
“He produces consistently good food, has a good manner and calm temperament when he’s cooking and doesn’t flap when he’s under pressure.
“Everybody has a good chance of winning and it can come down to how well you perform on the day.
“Joe has a good a chance as any."
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