Cooking for the Future: the Best of British food with the chefs of tomorrow

Rational partners with Craft Guild of Chefs to launch competition for catering students and colleges

Rational and the Craft Guild of Chefs have teamed up to launch Cooking for the Future, an exciting competition for catering students and colleges. It’s open to anyone on a recognised catering educational course, full or part time, and along with a brilliant package of prizes, Rational is offering a range of educational services to help students get to grips with the latest cooking technology.

Teams of two will compete for prizes including a fabulous Michelin Star experience, at a restaurant in their region. In addition, the winners’ college will get the latest in advanced kitchen technology in the shape of a Rational iVario multifunctional cooking system. Meanwhile all finalists will receive an embroidered Rational chef’s jacket, a Rational knife set and a year’s membership to the Craft Guild of Chefs.

“This competition is designed to enthuse catering students, by showing them what modern kitchen design is all about, and the results they can achieve using the latest multifunctional cooking systems,” says Thomas Bentham, Rational’s Regional Corporate Chef, who is leading the project for the company. “This is exciting technology, and we want catering students to see that for themselves, using the very best of British ingredients.”

Andrew Green, CEO of the Craft Guild of Chefs, says, "The Craft Guild of Chefs is excited to be involved with Rational’s brilliant new cooking competition. 'Cooking for the future' is a fantastic, forward-thinking concept which will help support the next generation of chefs and UK catering colleges. We are delighted to lend our expertise as part of the judging panel."

To underline the use of modern technology, initial entry is multi-media, combining written recipes and a video. Four regional winners will be selected from this round to go on to a live final, to be held at Rational’s development kitchen in Luton, under the watchful eyes of a judging panel made up of expert chefs.

Rational is supporting the competition with a full range of educational resources for colleges and students, including online training, site presentations, and visits to colleges by Rational chefs.

“Rational’s commitment to creating the tools chefs need to meet the challenges of modern catering is the driving force behind the competition,” says Bentham. “Cooking for the Future will help tomorrow’s chefs understand and develop their skills, using the latest RATIONAL cooking systems, like the multifunctional iVario, while celebrating the best of British food – and perhaps win their college one of the most advanced cooking systems on the market!”

Entries will open on the 6th September 2021, with the final live event scheduled to take place in February 2022. Full details of entry can be found on the Craft Guild of Chefs website, craftguildofchefs.org

RATIONAL is the leading provider in hot food preparation equipment and, with the iCombi Pro and the iVario multifunctional cooking system, the company delivers 95% of all conventional cooking applications. Rational’s ConnectedCooking allows operators to monitor, manage and update their Rational appliances remotely, from a PC, tablet or smartphone. iKitchen is the combination of the iCombi Pro, iVario Pro and ConnectedCooking – iKitchen delivers the best kitchen management and the best cooking solutions. For information and brochures, or to find out about free Rational Live online demonstrations, call +44 (0)1582 480388, freephone 0800 389 2944 or visit www.rational-online.com