From cooking-under-pressure with army chefs using ration packs, to learning how to offer the best hospitality on board an aeroplane, hospitality and catering students at West Nottinghamshire College welcomed various guests in the kitchens and bar at the Derby-road based restaurant, Refined.
Head of animal care and hospitality and catering Helen Wilcockson said: “This team never fails to impress our students when it comes to organising industry week activities.
“Learners have experienced such a varied agenda from creating their own food and drink to tasting the talents of other professionals.
“Industry week has also broadened their horizons when it comes to seeing just how many job types are available across the sector such as a supermarket or retail ‘ready meal chef’, and this is so important when they’re starting to think about the paths they are looking to take in the next year or two.”
Take a closer look at how Industry Week played out for the students…
5. Airline industry visit
Maria Gunning, who has worked in the airline industry for over 25 years, spoke to students about how to professionally utilise their hospitality skills whilst on-board a flight. She performed the standard airline safety demo, together with how to cater for passengers on-board, attending to food and drinks requests. Photo: West Nottinghamshire College
6. Former student visit
Former student Leigh Richards introduced students to the world of ingredients needed for ready meals. Leigh gave the students an insight into the food industry and his role which focuses on developing ingredients for ready meals which are sold in many shops. He set them the challenge to come up with a concept for a ready meal, whether that was high protein, low fat or low cost. Students had to consider budgets, ingredients and the production process and the ease of production and transportation. Photo: West Nottinghamshire College
7. Ready Steady Cook
Restaurant worthy meals were cooked up by student chefs on the Ready Steady Cook challenge. The Ready, Steady Cook-style competition saw students creating a range of meals. Working in pairs they were challenged to design and cook a two-course meal for two people that aligns with their culinary abilities, using limited ingredients. Judges offering their professional critique of the dishes were foundation studies and catering assessor Craig Stevens and former professional cookery student Oliver Cooper, who now works as a chef at the Blidworth-based Black Bull pub. Photo: West Nottinghamshire College
8. Challenges
Great tastes, textures and flavours were brought together in the cookery challenge. Photo: West Nottinghamshire College