Golden Whisk Final 2023!

Golden Whisk Final 2023!

On 4^th July 2023 we held the final of the 2023 Mellors Golden Whisk competition at The Cheshire Cookery School in Altrincham.  The annual cooking competition aims to celebrate and recognise our talented chefs and culinary genius across Mellors, crowning one lucky winner with the Golden Whisk Award.

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 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 of the Unilever UK team.

It was an extremely tough decision for the judges to choose between Patrick’s ‘Balti Pie’, Emma’s ‘Taste-Tastic Veggie Burger’, Rays ‘Divine Vegan Selection’ and Anisha’s delicious ‘Asian Inspired Offering’.

We’re delighted to announce that the winner is… Anisha from Sharples High School in Bolton.

Anisha’s dishes tasted delicious and were incredibly versatile. She smashed the ‘waste not, want not’ brief, using a wide selection of leftover ingredients including mashed potato, tortilla wraps, vegetables, jacket potatoes and more. Her food was a complete explosion of flavours and a treat for the taste buds!

Tony Trainor said:

“It’s been a pleasure to experience first-hand the raw talent here at Mellors. We’re so lucky to be able to celebrate the skill and culinary excellence that our catering team possess, who feed more than 120,000 delicious, nutritious meals each day. I’m incredibly proud of what the team has achieved and the food has simply been fantastic.”

Well done to Anisha for being crowned the 2023 winner, Ray, Paddy and Emma for their fantastic dishes in the final and to everyone who took part in the competition.