Zest Quest Asia: Student Culinary Competition

February 2, 2021

Catering and Hospitality students at Cambridge Regional College are preparing to take part in Zest Quest Asia, a Further Education culinary competition designed to test student competitors’ technical expertise, creativity, understanding and appreciation of Asian cuisine.

Murray Chapman, Director of Passion to Inspire, joined CRC Catering and Hospitality students by video call to introduce the Zest Quest Asia culinary competition and talk through some of the flavours, techniques and dishes to be experienced across Asia.

Catering and Hospitality Team Leader, Graham Taylor, said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for our student chefs to explore new ingredients and techniques. The competition is exciting, inspiring and challenging, as the possibilities of Asian cuisine are endless.”

To enter the competition, students are required to work independently to create a dish using rice as one of the main ingredients, and to inspire the young chefs, Harvir Deol and Luke Dalley, from Tilda, offered their expertise on the origins of rice, the labour-intensive methods of rice farming and the many different varieties and uses of rice in cooking today.

Once the students have created their dish, they are required to upload a photograph of their finished plate to Facebook or Instagram for judging. The closing date for entries is 17 February, after which the finalists in the first round will be revealed.

The second round of the competition will see the students prepare a set menu in their college kitchen, with their lecturer as Commis Chef. The final cook-off will take place on 31 March with the winning chef receiving a masterclass with renowned Indian Chef, Cyrus Todiwala OBE DL, among other prizes.

Follow @CRC_College to find out how the competition unfolds.