Top chefs team up to raise money for vulnerable people in charity cook off
Some of the country’s top chefs teamed up with Cyrenians and Edinburgh College to lay on a gastronomical spectacular and raise money for society’s most vulnerable people.
The Cyrenians hosted an evening of fine dining and entertainment at the college, with a seven-course tasting menu created by some of Scotland’s best and most high-profile chefs. The college’s professional cookery and hospitality students got to work alongside the chefs in the kitchen and service, giving them a great opportunity to learn from the best.
The event was the culmination of Cyrenians’ #tellyourstory campaign, which has been highlighting attitudes to poverty and those excluded from family, home, work or community. Guests included some of the inspirational local people who have featured in the campaign, and whose lives have been turned round by the Cyrenians. Entrepreneur Sir Tom Farmer plus many more of the charity’s supporters and partners, including high-profile local businesses, also enjoyed the cook-off event.
Chefs included Daniel Mellor from the Observatory restaurant at The Glasshouse Hotel; John Newton from Apex International; Neil Forbes from Café St Honore; Sebastian Kobelt, Patissier and Chocolatier from Linlithgow; Brian Grigor, head chef of the Michelin-starred Number One restaurant at The Balmoral Hotel.
Guests at the event voted for the dishes as the evening progressed. The winning dish was the Edinburgh College students petit-fours. They served up blackberry and apple pate de fruit, salted caramel chocolates, orange and fondant truffles, and white chocolate fudge.
Funds raised through the cook-off event will go towards Cyrenians’ work including its homeless prevention service; befriending service for older people; recovery service for addicts; recruitment and skills centre; and food education.
The Cyrenians work to create opportunities for disadvantaged people by offering effective and lasting routes out of homelessness and promoting social inclusion. The charity focuses on four targeted areas of service: family and people, home and housing, work and skills, and community and food. “