Keele University chef wins Cordon Vert's Chef of the Future title

Kim Barnish from Keele University is the winner of the Cordon Vert Cookery School's 2010 Chef of the Future competition.

This is the second year the school, which is renowned for its innovative vegetarian cuisine, has held the competition. Open to vegetarian and non vegetarian chefs, entrants had to create a three course meal suitable for vegetarians, and those getting through to the final took part in a live cook off at the Vegetarian Society headquarters in Cheshire.

The other finalists were Lora Aleksandrova from Salford University, Walter Fullick from Tameside College and James Parsons from The Bedford Swan.

The judges included Cordon Vert's principal tutor Christina Tilbury and its longest serving tutor Chico Francesco (pictured above with Barnish), who praised all the competitors for their creative and enticing vegetarian food.

The winning menu consisted of beetroot soup with apple horseradish and avocado cream; cashew nut coated peppers and red bean fritter on sprouted beans, courgette spaghetti, enoki mushrooms warm salad in tamarind and sherry vinegar dressing; and soft cheese panna cotta with raspberries, pineapple and lime, salpicon and sesame tuilles.

Katie Douglass, head of catering services at Cordon Vert, said: "The Chef of the Future contest set out to find the chefs with talent, promise, creativity and new ideas. Kim impressed the judges with her wonderful seasonal menu.

"As part of her prize, she will receive a scholarship to the Cordon Vert Cookery School to complete her Professional Diploma in vegetarian cuisine and we are very excited to welcome her here."

Last year's winner Eddie Shepherd was on hand to offer moral support to all the finalists. He said: "Winning last year's competition has meant a huge amount to me. It gave me the confidence and the opportunities to really take my cooking to the next level and has been a massive boost to my career. The things I've been able to be involved in since then have been incredible, including cooking on TV, doing live demonstrations and writing for food magazines. This year's contestants were a great group of chefs and produced some amazing food."

Words: Sheila Eggleston

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