Top Bristol restaurant chefs, plus chefs from smaller establishments, community chefs and junior participants, are set to battle it out at the end of May to become Ready-Steady-Master-Chef and Ready-Steady-Junior-Chef 2012 Champions.
The Masters event includes chefs from top restaurants like The Watershed and The Rummer, competing head to head with vegetarian chefs, trying to beat them at their own game of producing the best meals from plant-based ingredients – all against the clock.
The event was piloted in 2011, with great popularity, and is set become an integral part of the fun at VegfestUK Bristol 2012 – a free to the public 3-day festival on the Harbourside from Friday 25th May to Sunday 27th May. Ready-Steady-Chef is an amazing way of stimulating and sharing practical creative cooking.
Winners of their rounds in 2011, Oliver Pratt, head chef at The Watershed, and Greg McHugh, head chef at The Rummer Hotel, are keen to participate again. And chefs from new and smaller establishments will be involved too. Keith Turrell from Big Chill Bar has recently taken responsibility for his menus locally and looks forward to putting back more nutritious food and flavours with vegetables, and Al from The Phoenix looks forward to launching food later in the year including Indian vegetable dishes and highlighting the health benefits as well as diverse flavours of Indian spices.
They will be joined by more top Bristol restaurant and community chefs in the Masters event which takes place over the afternoon of Sunday 27th May.
The Junior event will involve students from local schools on Saturday May 26th. Shane Jordan, who has been working creatively with schools for some time now, recently piloted the Junior format at VegfestUK Brighton, and also participated in the 20111 Masters event. There’s still time to join in, and interested participants, parents and schools can contact rschef-bristol@googlegroups.
Tim Barford, from Bristol, the man behind VegfestUK, comments, “2012 is set to be bigger than 2011. It’s not about telling people what they can’t eat, but highlighting the amazing variety of options available. The Ready-Steady-Chef format allows people to see some of the vast array of dishes available, and how easy they are to create – tasty, healthy dishes in just 30 minutes!”
“In the age of calorie-dense supermarket ready meals it’s a breath of fresh air to remember how, with just a little basic knowledge and a good source of practical recipes for reference, it needn’t take too long to make fresh local ingredients into delicious meals, and some top chefs remind us of the superb range of delicate flavours that come so much more to the fore when the meal is created from plant-based ingredients and not constrained by the meat and poultry, fish and dairy that so often dominate meals.”
“So whether you’re looking to reduce your meat intake, switch to a vegetarian diet, want some variety in the food you eat, have food allergies or intolerances, or want more information about a fully plant-based, vegan diet – Ready-Steady-Chef should give you some inspiration. And the various talks, demonstrations and stalls provide an array of information, practical advice and great tasting food to try.”
If you’d like to participate please email rschef-bristol@googlegroups.
[…] menu at this year’s VegFest will be: over 120 exhibitors; a host of talks on healthy living; a Ready Steady Chef competition where top local chefs will compete against veggie chefs to create the tastiest vegan meal; cookery […]