Golden Whisk 2023 – Mellors Recognises Top Culinary Talent

Posted: 29th November 2023 | Category: Achievements

During the summer, we celebrated the outstanding talent and culinary brilliance throughout Mellors with our annual event, the Golden Whisk award.

The objective of the Golden Whisk award is to acknowledge and reward skilled individuals within Mellors units across the North of England and Midlands.

Following an extremely competitive shortlisting process with over 138 entries, four finalists made it through to the penultimate stage – battling it out in a live cook off, against the clock.

Our four finalists included Anisha Issop from Sharples High School, Ray Dennis from Dean Trust Ardwick, Patrick Joyce from Royds Hall High School and Emma Sheard from Kirkleatham Hall Special School.

Sponsored by Unilever UK, this prestigious competition tasked entrants to design and create a dish which utalised leftover food, likely destined for waste and something that could be served in any Mellors kitchen. According to statistics, in the UK 9.5 million tonnes of food is discarded as waste each year and we want to change that!

This years’ theme, ‘waste not, want not’ challenged applicants to be more environmentally friendly by giving their food leftovers a new lease of life!

This meant the competition entries had to be very creative with their menu choices, re-working them into delicious dishes. The theme aimed to promote more sustainable cooking, reducing food waste and lowering costs in the face of inflation and rising food prices.

The live final was judged by Tony Trainor (CEO), Danielle Watkins (Head of Nutrition & Food Development), Anna Bamber (Marketing Manager) and two representatives from Unilever UK.

Here is Anisha, the 2023 winner from Mellors, being formally presented her with the Golden Whisk award.