Sustainability Takes Over National Chef of The Year

As we recover from the global pandemic, The Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of The Year criteria are focusing on the chefs' experiences from the past year, including the impact it has had on the Hospitality industry.

Chefs from all over the world have offered their services during the pandemic, from feeding communities to creating takeaway & delivery businesses to keep the Hospitality industry alive. The last year has increased interest in where food comes from, and sustainability is now more important and urgent than ever.

The food focus for National Chef of The Year 2021 is sustainability with the partaking chefs having to incorporate ingredients from the Knorr Future 50 Foods list. Young National Chef of The Year focused on sustainability last year, the chair of judges Hrishikesh Desai, executive chef at The Gilpin Hotel and Lake House in Windermere spoke on Future50 foods: "These finalists are the upcoming stars of our industry and we wanted them to be the catalyst for change and inspire their colleagues and peers. By taking the Future 50 Foods ingredients you can create responsibly sourced and biodiverse dishes for the future."

What is the Knorr Future 50 Foods list?

The Future 50 Foods list is designed to highlight ingredients that will help deliver a sustainable future, as well as choosing ingredients for their positive nutritional credentials.

Headline Sponsor Knorr have joined forces with the WWF and other leaders in nutrition and sustainability to develop Future 50 Foods. The Future 50 Foods have been selected based on their high nutritional value, relative environmental impact, flavour, accessibility, acceptability, and affordability.

Find the full list of Knorr Future 50 Foods here.

The Brief

The Craft Guild of Chefs have therefore asked for chefs to produce a sustainable vegetarian starter focused on the Future50 ingredients and incorporating fresh seasonal produce. Competitors have been asked to include at least one of the following Future 50 ingredients in their dish.

• Watercress - a powerhouse vegetable that packs several important nutrients but is extremely low in calories. It contains a plethora of antioxidants, which may lower your risk of heart disease and several types of cancer. It's also a good source of minerals that protect your bones.

• Fleshed Pumpkin - a great source of potassium and beta-carotene, which is a carotenoid that converts to vitamin A. It also contains some minerals including calcium and magnesium, as well as vitamins E, C and some B vitamins.

• Walnuts - round, single-seeded stone fruits that grow from the walnut tree. They are a good source of healthful fats, protein, and fiber. They may enhance heart and bone health and help in weight management, among other benefits.

• Saffron Milk Cap Mushrooms - Saffron milk cap mushrooms are high in beta-carotene, which gives these mushrooms their characteristic colour. They also contain protein, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and calcium.

• Kale - Includes vitamin A (important for eye and bone health and a strong immune system), vitamin C (aids in cold and chronic disease prevention), and vitamin K (good for blood clotting and bone building).

• Beetroot & Beet Leaf - Packed with essential nutrients, beetroots are a great source of fiber, folate (vitamin B9), manganese, potassium, iron, and vitamin C.

• Chickpeas - More than environmental superheroes, chickpeas offer us a rich source of fibre, protein, and B vitamins.

See our previous Press Release posted on the NCOTY brief for 2021

Chefs Against Plastic Waste: A Recap

Here at Continental Chef Supplies we praise all corporations that are starting to make sustainable changes. The last couple of years, we have noticed a lot of changes going on in the industry, where processes are been put in place to help reduce waste and to improve sustainability within the workplace. These same changes have been noticed in one of our exclusive suppliers Chaud Devant, and they have teamed up with Waste2Work and have developed a chef wear collection from recycled plastics bottles which have been gathered from our British coastlines.

To help raise awareness of recycling and the need to reduce plastic waste within the Hospitality industry; Continental Chef Supplies and Chaud Devant were proud to be the official chef jacket sponsors for the 2020 National Chef of the Year Competition. We provided all the finalist and judges with the short sleeve Salerno recycled plastic bottle (RPB) chef's jacket. The Chefs Against Plastic Waste (CAPW) campaign has been designed by Continental Chef Supplies to give all the chefs that took part in the competition a chance to turn their chef whites into a positive statement about the future of our planet.

Continental Chef Supplies have been proud sponsors of the The Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of the Year competition for the last 10 years, and continue to show our support for the ever-exciting National Chef of the Year competition as a well as the Hospitality industry as a whole.