O’Fish’ial Sustainability as Cornish Chefs Strive to Reduce Plastics in their Kitchens!
Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen (Cornwall) was the venue for The Chefs’ Forum’s first Cornish event of 2019. The event was a huge success, attended by well over one hundred members of the hospitality profession in Cornwall. Budding young chefs from three catering colleges: Cornwall College, Truro & Penwith and City College Plymo
uth, got the opportunity to work in the kitchen with Fifteen Head Chef Adam Banks and Training and Development Chef Karl Jones. Top chefs from across Cornwall learnt about sustainable fishing in Cornish Waters from the Cornwall Good Seafood Guide as well as enjoying a fish filleting masterclass and plastic reduction talk by top sustainable fish supplier Fish for Thought.
Matthew Thomson welcomed the Chefs Forum to Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen saying
“It’s so good to see so many of the chefs and hospitality experts here who helped establish Fifteen in 2006. Thanks to you, these young apprentices are set to follow over 130 others in completing the Fifteen training programme. If you’d like to do more to develop talent to drive your business please get involved with our Experts Grow programme.”
This event celebrated collaboration between industry networking organisation The Chefs’ Forum and Fifteen Cornwall with a common purpose to teach chefs and hospitality students about where the fish they use in their everyday profession comes from and factors facilitating its availability.
Paul, spokesperson for the C
ornwall Good Seafood Guide stated: “
“Fish filleting demonstrations are a great way to encourage the chefs to cook with sustainable species such as whiting and hake and let them know about the abundant quantity of hake being caught off the Cornish coast. Using species that are in plentiful supply really helps our fishermen who risk their lives on a daily basis to harvest the fish sold to chefs. Fish for thought are also doing their bit in reducing plastics and delivering fish straight into chefs’ fridges without using more traditional polystyrene boxes – Collectively we can start to make vital c
hanges needed to conserve our environment.”
Adam Banks then gave a crab tortellini demonstration (whilst being filmed by the BBC), then judged a tortellini-making competition. Fifteen Apprentice Leila Faulkner (17) won the competition with ‘expertly-shaped tortellini with a good pocket for the filling’ said Adam.
Sam Guarino then presented fabulous Santa Maria herbs and spices and invited chefs to test their current supplier against the Santa Maria range. Sam offered to replace any product, free of charge that chefs deemed better quality than Santa Maria. Sam gave all chefs a full-size oregano carton in goody bags as Santa Maria too has gone plastic free!
The day was rounded-off with a brilliant cote
chino sausage-making demo by Gavin Roberts of Two Brothers Foods and Kernow Sausage Company.
He also provided haute dogs for the chefs to enjoy as well as bistro rump steak for the chefs to enjoy.
They were also treated to Cornish lobster and hake from Fish for Thought, further showcasing the quality of sustainable Cornish fish species.
The guests returned home to see the event captured brilliantly by Johnny Rutherford on BBC Spotlight – a great hand-raiser for the Cornish hospitality industry, The Chefs’ Forum and the need for professional chefs to think seriously about reducing plastics in their restaurants.
Photography by: www.jamesaphotography.co.uk
