YOUNG CHEF SELECTED TO REPRESENT COLCHESTER IN NATIONAL COOKING COMPETITION

24 May YOUNG CHEF SELECTED TO REPRESENT COLCHESTER IN NATIONAL COOKING COMPETITION

Alicia Russell from Elmstead Primary School has been selected to represent Colchester in the final stage of a national cooking competition, the Young Pea Chef of the Year 2019, in association with The Ocado Foundation.

Alicia is one of five school children shortlisted in the Primary School category and in with a chance of being selected to be in with a chance of being crowned the winner of the national cooking competition which challenged children aged 4-16 to develop a creative and delicious recipe using frozen peas.

The Yes Peas! campaign, which represents the UK’s pea vining sector, joined forces with The Ocado Foundation again for a second year running to launch the national competition which received over 200 entries from budding young chefs across the UK.

Alicia’s recipe for Pea-fect Parcels beat off hundreds of hopefuls to be selected as one of the final five by an expert panel of judges, including TV chef Rachel Green, a representative from The British Growers Association, the Ocado Foundation’s Suzanne Westlake, and representatives from Greenyard Frozen, Beeswax Dyson and East Coast Viners.

The next stage of the competition calls upon the public to show their support and vote for their favourite recipe. From 21st May until 25th June, finalists will go head-to-head, rallying up as much support as possible from friends, family and their community. The young chef with the most votes in each of the three categories will be crowned Young Pea Chef of the Year 2019 for their age group and will win a £500 donation from the Ocado Foundation, to go towards ‘Grow Your Own’ projects for their school, as well as a personalised hamper for each winner to take home.

Young Pea Chef finalist Alicia Russell said: “I am very excited and happy to reach the finals of the competition. I have always enjoyed cooking and it is one of my favourite things to do. As I have Coeliac Disease I like showing people that gluten free foods are tasty and I love creating dishes from scratch and experimenting without using a recipe as I find it fun and enjoy discovering new flavours.”

TV chef and Yes Peas! campaign ambassador, Rachel Green, said: “We were overwhelmed to receive over 200 entries into this year’s Young Pea Chef of the Year competition – the highest number of entries since we kicked off our first competition four years ago!

“I’m so pleased that parents and teachers supported the Yes Peas! campaign and encouraged children to enter. The standard this year is extremely high and we’ve seen some really inspiring creations – I can’t wait to see who wins the vote! We’d like to congratulate Alicia on being chosen as a finalist and hope Colchester residents show their support by voting for her!”