Do you know a young chef with real talent?

This year’s Cork on a Fork Festival is giving local chefs aged between 16 and 23 a unique chance to get a leg-up in the industry and kick off a career in cooking.

A new and innovative event aimed at shaping the future of Cork’s culinary scene will take place during the festival this August. The ‘Future Food Feast’ is a new concept for a dinner that will celebrate innovation, sustainability, and young talent.

A competition has launched, inviting young chefs to design a dish that could be featured at a dinner on Sunday, August 18th, at The Metropole Hotel.

The five most promising chefs from the competition will be chosen to receive mentorship from two of Cork’s top sustainability chefs—zero-waste chef Orla McAndrew and Alex Petit, the Group Executive Chef at Trigon Hotels. This mentorship will include a farm visit, a foraging session, and guidance on scaling their dish to serve 100 people at the event.

Sponsored by the Cork Branch of the IHF, the event aims to encourage and inspire the next generation of chefs in Cork, instilling in them a passion for sustainable and innovative cooking practices.

“This experience offers a rare opportunity for young people to showcase their culinary skills and innovative ideas to a large audience, potentially launching their careers in the hospitality industry.” said Ciarán Fitzgerald, Chair of the IHF Cork Branch.

“We have some of the best chefs and the best local produce so it will be an amazing experience.”

How to enter

The Future Food Feast calls on aspiring chefs to submit their most creative and forward-thinking recipe ideas. Participants are encouraged to feature a selection of future food ingredients in their recipes, including tomatoes, beetroot, berries, crab, lobster, langoustine, mackerel, corn, new potatoes, broad beans, runner beans, peas, courgettes, aubergines, marrows, lettuce, garden herbs and edible flowers.

Participants can submit one or multiple recipes under the following categories: canapes, starter course, soup or sorbet, main course, dessert or cheese board. Each submission should include a photograph of the dish and a paragraph explaining what Cork’s future of food means to the chef and how this vision is embodied in their creation.

The submissions must be sent to corkonaforkfest@gmail.com with “Cork’s Food Future Dinner” referenced in the subject line by July 1st, 2024.

From the pool of submissions, five promising chefs will be selected to participate in the Future Food Feast dinner and tickets will go on sale once the chefs have been chosen.