A fantastic group of chefs lined up to go head-to-head in the hope of being crowned Ready Steady Cook Nourish Chef of the Year!
Nourish Community Foodbank welcomed over 90 guests to the Old Auction House on Monday 4 November for the inaugural Ready Steady Cook for Nourish event. The event gave the charity an opportunity to raise awareness and explain how Nourish is needed now more than ever.
Some of the area’s greatest local chefs gave their time and creativity for free to compete against each other, using ingredients found in a standard Nourish food parcel, with the audience voting for their favourite dish using the charity’s brand apple as a spin off from the show’s legendary green and red pepper cards. The casting votes were handed to our panel of nine VIP judges, who represented the silent heroes who have been supporting Nourish over the past 12 years, enabling them to say yes to helping every client referred to them.
Working in a similar way to the hit TV Show, Ready Steady Cook, in the first round we saw mighty local legends Scott Goss from I’ll be Mother Group and The Beacon compete against Robin Read of The Counter. The audience were neck and neck in their green v red apple votes, so the VIP judges had a tough decision to make, finally selecting Robin as the round winner. Next up was the creative duo pairing of Alex Boyd from Kumquat Restaurant and our wild card Chef, Charlie Moore from Charlie’s Angels Kitchen. Despite the judges going wild for Alex’s caramelised pineapple, Charlie won the hearts and taste buds of the judges in round two. Our final round saw the incredible Steve Anderson from Sankey’s – The Old Fishmarket take on the infamous Rosemary Shrager, another closely contested round with the audience split down the middle, the VIP judges eventually selecting Steve’s apple cauliflower salad and winter cassoulet as their winner.
Our comperes Dan Hatton, Chef and Owner of Hattons TW and The Deer Park Café and Bibi Roy, Food Critic and Writer spent the evening finding out what the chef’s were cooking, taking questions from the audience about Nourish, the chef’s favourite foods as well as the many uses of cornflakes and cauliflower in cooking!
The end of the night saw the VIP judges making a tough decision … who was their overall winner to claim the trophy? After much deliberation, Charlie Moore of Charlie’s Angels Kitchen won the night, not just for her amazing satay broccoli, bean cassoulet and fruit crumble, but also her commitment to reducing food waste.
“Nourish are so grateful to the incredible chefs and comperes who gave their time pro-bono to support the charity. The evening has raised funds to help purchase food this winter and, just as critically, we have raised awareness that the stigma around using a foodbank needs to stop,” said Simon Vincent, Chair of Trustees at Nourish.
