No-one could accuse the college’s catering and hospitality students of being in a routine if the past few days are anything to go by.

The hospitality and catering students are often to be seen cooking up creations in the new skills kitchen and the restaurant kitchen and serving the many guests and customers who take advantage of the delicious lunches and themed dinners that the commercial training restaurant @34 serve each week.

Since the beginning of February however, the hospitality and catering students from all levels have had additional challenges of showcasing their talents; whether that’s at Westpoint’s food trade show; serving exquisite seafood dishes under the intense scrutiny of Rich Stein’s chefs; bringing home an array of medals from one of the industry’s top competitions or creating their own dishes under the watchful and exacting eye of the region’s leading cheese manufacturer.

“It’s been a busy week,” said John Wheeler head of hospitality and catering

but these are exactly the type of experiences that single out our students as the best in the sector. Cooking to a high standard and delivering exceptional front of house service are all the essential skills they need to hone to succeed in this exciting industry.”

On Feb 4th and 5th over 20 students joined Ian Webber, Collin D Pereira, Ben Palmer and many other leading SW chefs at the demo kitchen at the Source Food and Drink Show at Westpoint – billed as the perfect mix of passionate producers, alongside the hottest hospitality and catering companies and the freshest food service. The students were given top spot during the two mornings creating dishes of pan fried mackerel and Thai crab cakes in front of the trade show visitors and supported the demo chefs throughout the day as they showed off a variety of cooking styles. “It was lovely to work with the Exeter College catering students” said Steve Ashworth SW Chef of the Year 2013 “They are the future of food.” “What a fantastic time we had at the Source Food and Drink show” tweeted Favis of Salcombe “Great demo by Richard Hunt and Exeter College.”

In the evening the college’s @34 restaurant was transformed into a seafood haven with the students working with the famous Rick Stein’s chefs who had, temporarily abandoned their Cornish kitchen to create a feast of delicacies from the sea in aid of Volunteers for Rural India a charity dinner in association with Rick Stein’s Seafoood restaurant. Over 60 guests were treated to mouthwatering courses including Gratin a la Dieppoise with haddock, hand dived scallop, mussel and prawn.

On Friday Feb 6th the high standards of the students were put to the test when 20 of them travelled to their local rivals, South Devon College to compete in the Major Series competition – national competitions set up by the Craft Guild of Chefs. The Exeter stars amassed an impressive selection of medals – 6 golds, 7 silvers, 8 bronze and 8 Merit. “This is a brilliant record,” said John Wheeler “and we’re really proud of their achievements in such a high standard and demanding competition.” One particular student, Declan Marshall, came away with not only a duo of gold medals in Cook and Serve Flambé and non alcoholic cocktail and coffee service but also returned home with the £100 prize for Best Front of House showing that it is not just cheffing that the scores points at these competitions.

Concluding this busy period the college’s Michael Caines Academy – which is currently recruiting for the next training year – saw the finale of another competition on Monday Feb 9th – one run by Quickes Cheese in a unique partnership between the local food expert and the college to come up with and cook mouthwatering recipes using the Newton St Cyres based products. The winners of the final – India Lucas-Odges and Megan Ingarfield cooked up mushroom and macaroni burger and smoked cheese and sausage tortellini at the event – both recipes now destined to appear on the menus at the Quickes farm café. “It was an amazing experience to be able to cook for someone like Mary Quicke,” said Megan Ingarfield “She’s a brilliant business woman with a real career mind and to have her judge my dish was amazing.” As Mary Quicke tweeted on the day “Excited to see what these talented young chefs have come up with. Lovely to meet the exceptional students from Michael Caines Academy creating the most inspiring dishes, lots of delicious ingredients.