Inspiring the next generation of seafood chefs
Thank you for making this opportunity happen for us. We loved every second of the time we spent on the UK pavilion at the expo. The event has definitely opened my eyes to the opportunities with seafood and my career.
What was the industry challenge?
Hospitality businesses continue to face recruitment and retention pressures, particularly in coastal and rural areas where seafood businesses are concentrated. At the same time, seafood preparation and cooking can be seen as specialist skills. Reduced use of whole fish and shellfish in some kitchens has limited opportunities for chefs to build practical experience working with these ingredients.
How did Seafish and its partners respond?
Working with chef, author and former Billingsgate Seafood Training School Chief Executive CJ Jackson, we partnered with leading foodservice operator Elior to identify high-performing students from the Elior Training Academy.
Selected trainee chefs were given the opportunity to travel to Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona and work alongside CJ in the live demonstration kitchen of the UK seafood pavilion. They gained practical experience preparing, cooking and presenting a variety of fish and shellfish dishes in a professional international exhibition environment.
What was the impact?
The initiative was designed to recognise emerging culinary talent while giving aspiring chefs valuable seafood-specific experience. It helped them develop technical skills, broaden their seafood knowledge and build confidence working with fish and shellfish.
Over the past three editions of Seafood Expo Global, six trainee chefs have taken part. They developed technical skills, broadened their seafood knowledge and built confidence working with fish and shellfish. The experience also gave them insight into a different part of the chef world, helped inspire their interest in seafood and supported them to become ambassadors for UK fish and shellfish as their careers develop.
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