Letters
Jamie's Kitchen could set us back 50 years
I had heard criticisms of the television programme Jamie's Kitchen and so, as a consequence, this week I made a point of watching it. If this is typical of the state of many colleges, which I am sure it is not, then the industry would have every right to criticise and question the validity of centres such as this.
This may be good television, but it is disastrous for our profession and recruitment. It focuses on failure rather than success; the foul language is quite appalling, even for kitchen standards, and it is quite unprofessional for the chef lecturer to smoke during a tutorial and cuddle students.
Such displays of theatre not only damage college-industry relationships, but also the credibility of catering education in the wider academic community.
Those of us who feel passionately about the industry have tried for many years to promote catering as a worthwhile career with great career opportunities.
Recently we have developed culinary qualifications that lead to a degree, and several colleges offer HNDs in culinary arts. But programmes such as Jamie's Kitchen, which highlight an unsavoury view of catering education centres, could put us back 50 years.
Professor David Foskett, Associate Dean, The London School of Tourism, Hospitality & Leisure, Thames Valley University, Ealing, London W5.
Academy cash could be put to better use
I have no doubt that the accolades gained by Percy's (Caterer, 7 November, page 42) are well-deserved, hard-earned and reflect the quality and standards of the operation. However, does Percy's have a similar track record in workplace training and assessment?
I refer of course to the astonishing idea of ploughing £800,000 of public money into the proposed new chefs' academy in the wilds of west Devon in the misguided belief that it will have a noticeable effect on the shortage of chefs in the South-west.
A trawl through the Devon and Cornwall Learning & Skills Council (LSC) Web pages reveals that only 16% of work-based catering trainees achieve their National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) awards. In other words, eight out of 10 drop out. If this rate of failure is put into the proposed academy context, 50 trainees will have to be taken on to produce 10 trained chefs over a likely period of two to three years.
Each trained chef in this group will have cost the taxpayer £80,000 in Regional Development Agency (RDA) grants and £5,500 of LSC funding.
Surely the catering industry in the South-west would be better served if the RDA were to invest £100,000 each in the cash-strapped catering sections of the further education colleges in Redruth, St Austell, Plymouth, Torquay, Exeter, Barnstaple, Salisbury and Bath. The chairman of the RDA might like to consider a short trip to Tralee (Caterer, 7 November, page 64) and see how public money can be invested in a public sector training facility to good effect.
Mike Turner, Senior Lecturer, Hospitality Management, University of Plymouth, Devon.
We listed our ingredients, too
Keith Nelson is not the only one to have listed ingredients per dish for a number of years (Caterer, 21 November, page 18).
While managing the catering services at King Edward VII Hospital at Midhurst, West Sussex, in the early 1990s, my chefs and I worked on menus which listed the contents of each dish, by ingredients, calories, proteins, fats, etc. Every choice was explained to and tasted by a panel comprising the matron, dietitians, doctors, nurses and food service assistants before being included in the weekly menu cycle.
E Nuonno Di Agnone, Hospitality Manager, Kingston University, London SW15.
Devastating effects of alcohol and drugs
Further to Tony Allen's letter about the Ark Foundation (Caterer, 21 November, page 18) we recently witnessed the excellent alcohol and drugs awareness seminar that Peter Kay from the Ark Foundation delivers. His down-to-earth approach had an effect on all of us, and we would recommend Peter to any catering college interested in this subject.
Peter trained as a catering student and subsequently ran his own restaurant as a chef. He was extremely frank about the devastating effects that alcohol and drugs have had on him throughout his career, and bases his seminars on his very personal experiences.
Gary Butcher, Course Leader in Hospitality & Catering, Warrington Collegiate Institute, Cheshire.
What a year it's been
This year draws to a close and thank God it's nearly over. It has been quite the most problematical that I have known during nearly 30 years in the London restaurant business.
What with Tube strikes, May Day riots, countryside marches, firefighter strikes, and demonstrations of one kind or another all centred on Trafalgar Square, the aftermath of foot-and-mouth and 11 September, and the advent of the London congestion charge, the cards seem to have been stacked against us in Covent Garden.
Our Tube station was one of the few closed during the firemen's strike, and generally Covent Garden, where my restaurant has been trading for 23 years, has been badly hit by all these disruptive influences.
We have a rent review next year, but that's another story.
Richard, Earl of Bradford, Porters English Restaurant, London WC2.
