This year’s FutureChef Programme was a huge success with over 500 school participating across the whole of the programme and reaching over 24,000 young people. This included FutureChef Juniors & BakeOff, the FutureChef Competition and a programme of Culinary Career Sessions.
The FutureChef BakeOff started with a classroom-based competition involving 3,309 students, with the winner of each class being put forward to the national final. The winner was 11-Year-old Jamie Scotford from Nova Head School in Swindon, who cooked up a storm with his delicious Wild Mushroom and Lamb Tart served with a mushroom soup shot and a homemade pickled cabbage. Jamie’s combination of flavours and knowledge of his cooking techniques really impressed the judges who were wowed with his professional plating skills. Jamie attended the main competition National Final where he was presented with his very own set of chef whites and bake-off inspired knife set courtesy of Russums.
FutureChef Competition
The FutureChef Competition saw a record 7,105 students register to take part in a closely fought contest. After three stages of competition – school heats, local heats, regional finals, 12 finalists assembled at Westminster Kingsway College in London for the testing final.
Each finalist had 45 minutes to complete this year’s skills challenge – to fillet and prepare two whole rainbow trout for use in their main course; and were then given a further two hours to prepare and cook four plates of their hot main course. They were also tasked with serving a traditional crumble but with a twist. They were expected to focus on seasonal fruits, presentation, and be innovative with tastes and textures, using alternatives to traditional ingredients.
Freeman David Mulcahy was Chairman of the judges and Freeman Steve Munkley Head kitchen judge. Together they presided over a judging panel which included leading industry professional Chefs Adam Handling, Mark Reynolds, Nieves Barragan, 2023 Chef of the Year – Ben Murphy, Mark Heirs, Leigh Myers, Westminster Kingsway College tutor – Miranda Quantrill and last year’s winner – Phoebe Lawson. By all accounts they had a tough job deciding on the winner and runners up in what was a high-quality field.
After what seemed like an age and nervous excitement growing in the packed Vincent Rooms, a huge roar erupted when 15-year-old Kristen Nugent (Northern Ireland) was deservedly crowned the FutureChef 2023 winner. Diana Kysheniuk (Northwest) was second, and Marged Jones (Wales) was third. Alisha Bains (East of England) won the prize for ‘best presentation’.
What’s Cooking caught up with the three winners to find out a bit more about them and what being part of FutureChef meant.
The Winner
Kristen Nugent
Overall winner, Kristen, grew up in the tiny townland of Killeeshil in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Her hobbies include playing Gaelic football and horse riding. Her main passion, however, is cooking. She commented “I had an interest in food from a young age, I loved to be in the kitchen and would often bake with my family friend Cara and my sisters and cousins. Over lockdown I became more and more interested in savoury food and cooking more as I would be at home all day”.
It was her mum who got her involved in FutureChef in 2022, after reading about it in the local newspaper. Kristen’s mum was keen to enter her independently as her school wasn’t involved in the competition at the time. Kristen added “She has been a huge support throughout the whole competition, and it’s actually been a really lovely experience that we’ve been able to share”.
Winning the local final came as a huge surprise since she had never competed in anything like it before. At this stage she was introduced to her mentor, James Devine and with his help Kristen prepared for the regional final. She enthused, “The regional final was fabulous, the conditions at the Belfast Met were amazing, the judges were all so helpful and it was a great experience. I finished as runner up, but it gave me even more determination to re-enter the following year. This year, the local and regional finals went brilliantly well, I won them both and I was over the moon to compete in London at the national final”.
James Devine continued to mentor Kristen and clearly had a positive impact, she exclaimed, “I couldn’t have asked for anyone better. I’ve learnt so much from him and can’t thank him enough. He was National Chef of the Year in 2017 so he has heaps of experience and is a super talented chef with lots of ideas and advice. I would not have been as successful without James’ help. We did loads of practise sessions in a local professional kitchen, and this really helped me to develop my skills and prepare for the finals. I also got the opportunity to go to a local fish supplier Keenan Seafood to learn new skills from the head filleter Kevin – which came in handy for the skills test”.
Kristen also acknowledged the influence of her Uncle Shane, who shared her interest in good food and cooking. She said, “He pays close attention to good quality ingredients and I have never tasted anything he made that wasn’t phenomenal. Our family friend Sheila has always had good recipes and good food. She puts a great spin on any food to make it her own and her butter chicken and saffron rice is a staple in our house. She continues to amaze me as she comes home every day from a long day at work and can still whip up an amazing meal for her family. I also have an aunt who makes great food and so they have all influenced me on my road to success in the Springboard Futurechef competition. They have shown me that even the simplest of things can be made incredible with just a few quality ingredients”.
Kristen is currently studying for her GCSEs and is unsure of exactly what she will do when she leaves school. The Springboard Futurechef competition has made Kristen more confident in the kitchen and has convinced her that food will play a part in her future career.
Her main prize for winning FutureChef involved cooking at Royal Ascot with some amazing culinary professionals, courtesy of Sodexo. She added “I am excited to see if St. Ciaran’s College will get involved in the Springboard Futurechef competition next year. Hopefully they will use the £500 prize money they received to do this”. As for her prize from the Worshipful Company of Cooks, she is thinking of spending it on new Pandora charms for her bracelet.
Her advice to other young people thinking of entering FutureChef?
“If you are in anyway interested in food or cooking, go for it! Springboards FutureChef competition is incredible, and it has made me much more confident in the kitchen. I have learnt about so many new cooking styles that I would have never heard about before the competition. You meet some great Chefs and winning brings other experiences – including being on TV and radio”.
Runner Up
Diana Kysheniuk
A few months before taking part in FutureChef, runner up, Diana, was still living in her native, war-torn, Ukraine. After moving to the Northwest with her mother, she joined Ormskirk School and before she knew it, the 15-year-old was experiencing involvement in the FutureChef competition. She said, “I never dreamed that I would be taking part in competitions and being active so quickly after moving to the UK! I was full of emotion and a little nervous. I had no idea I would have such a desire to become a chef and create miracles in the kitchen. My hobby is cooking, I love it. I also love singing and playing musical instruments, especially piano and guitar. My mom loves cooking, so when I was little, I always wanted to help her in the kitchen”.
She continued, “I learned about FutureChef at the beginning of the school year from my food and nutrition teacher, Mrs Wiggans, who I love very much she is very kind, I received a lot of help and support from her. She encouraged us to take part and I agreed because I really like to compete! I am very grateful to her for choosing me as the one to represent my school! Of course, she was always with me and helped me with everything.”
Diana’s Mentor Chef was James Holden of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts. He said “Mentoring Diana in preparation for the final allowed me to see how determined, enthusiastic, and eager to learn she was. It was great to see her confidence grow over the mentoring sessions and the amazing dishes she created as a result”.
Diana added “When my mentor chef and my teacher and me were helping me prepare for the final, it was interesting and very exciting! I was full of emotion. I had a lot of sessions with James, and when he said that I was already winner for him, I was so happy. It wasn’t very easy to start with, but I kept trying to do it better but, every time, something went wrong, but I had a lot of support and he always helped to solve any problem and created peace”.
Diana clearly has a mature head on her shoulders and said “At my age, I am grateful for every experience, because it gives me the opportunity to explore options for my future career, where I would like to work and do the work that I love so much. FutureChef has shown me the pros and cons of being a Chef; it is not easy, it requires a lot of effort and patience, and of course the desire not to give up”.
For her prize, Diana was treated to an experience at Stamford Bridge, home of premier league football club, Chelsea. She joined Compass’s Chef Brigade on site and helped prepare the match day menu before joining her guests in a hospitality box to enjoy the football. She enthused “I was delighted with my prize, such a cool experience. Attending a football match was my dream! I had no idea that I would be cooking with famous chefs at a football game!”
Diana had not yet decided what to spend her prize money but was hugely grateful to the Worshipful Company of Cooks for their generosity.
2nd Runner Up
Marged Hathren Jones
Third placed Marged was born and bred in Lampeter, Southwest Wales; her first language is Welsh. She was raised on a dairy and sheep farm. Her grandmother had a café in town for over 40 years and her aunty has a catering business. She finds cooking to be relaxing and enjoys the feeling when people complement her cooking. She said “Cooking is a pleasure. During Covid, I baked regularly and loved seeing my family’s faces light up with my latest treats. I have helped both my grandmother and aunty with their catering too, we fed over 160 people at a wedding last year, which was quite an experience in 35C heat!”
“Traveling to London for the FutureChef national final was an experience in itself – over 250 miles in total. I loved going to London but also loved coming home to the green and quiet. It was an immense experience for me as being a West Walian we are very often overlooked and forgotten about in our rural haven”.
“I am lucky to have such a supportive family, especially my grandmother and aunty. Both helped me prepare for the final. We spent hours preparing, cooking, and evaluating and, of course, tasting, fitting it in between preparing for my GCSE exams. Being farmers, we don’t eat much fish, so learning to fillet one was the first step. My Uncle travelled 50 miles to source the fish! Everybody in the family loved the dishes I prepared”.
Marged’s Mentor was Ryan Jones who helped her prepare for the regional and national finals. She said, “I feel this competition has given me a much-needed boost to my confidence. I was honoured when one of the Judges told me my dishes were very close to winning – if I hadn’t had such issues with the oven and ran over time. Next time!”
Her prize was £500 worth of vouchers to spend in a Michelin star restaurant courtesy of Wellocks. Marged was looking forward to spending them at The Beach House in Oxwich Bay, Swansea. She declared “I can’t wait, I’ll be celebrating the end of these exams – which seemed to have gone on forever – and it will be my Birthday! As for the £100 from the Worshipful Company of Cooks, this will have to be spend on a new hand mixer, which I use often in the kitchen”.
