Search for Shropshire's best young cooks begins

The Crate & Cook competition, run by food education organisation fit2cook and sponsored by The Midcounties Co-operative Food’s ‘Best of Our Counties’ brand, was launched at an event at Csons Café/Restaurant in Shrewsbury, with food teachers from Shropshire secondary schools in attendance.

Young cooks aged between 12 and 14 years are challenged to hunt out ingredients from Shropshire’s farmers’ markets, farm shops and local allotments to create their menus as well as products from the Midcounties Co-operative’s Best of our Counties range.

Min Raisman, director of fit2cook, said: "The Create & Cook Competition is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate Shropshire’s local food and for budding young chefs in the region to showcase their skills in the kitchen."

Csons owner and chef, Reuben Crouch, was on hand at the launch event to discuss the importance of supporting local food producers and treated attendees to a cooking demonstration using ingredients from Shropshire suppliers.

He cooked a Mexican-inspired dish with Ludlow beef, local corn and squash, Shropshire quinoa with Ludlow Farm limed yogurt and Harehill Farm veg pico de gallo.

Matt Fletcher, direct sourcing manager at The Midcounties Co-operative Food, said: "Supporting young people and local suppliers is really important to us and this competition is a fun way for us to combine both of these. We’re looking forward to the first round of the competition and seeing how creative the young chefs can be with the local products."

The deadline for entries to the competition is April 3 and young cooks can enter through their school food technology department.

Four pairs of cooks will then be chosen to cook their dishes in front of chef judges at Shrewsbury College in May and winners will go on to cook against the best cooks in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire to find the Midcounties overall champions in June 2020.

For more information visit createandcook.co.uk