Young chef to represent Jersey at national competition

Sunday 30 July 2017

A sixteen-year-old from Jersey has become the youngest person ever to get through to the finals of a prestigious national catering competition.

Jacob Gosselin – who recently won Channel Island Chef of the Year – will be competing against seven of the UK’s most renowned up and coming cooks in London in October.

These include Amber Francis, winner of the British Culinary Federation chef of the year and currently an apprentice chef at The Ritz, London and Frances Attwood, who won the British Culinary Federation chef of the year.

Jacob hasn’t said what he’ll be preparing for the competition, but when he won Channel Island Chef of the year his main was pan-roasted trout with dressed fennel, asparagus, minted Jersey Royal potatoes, broad beans and peas with a mussel cream sauce, and  raspberry and strawberry Mille Feuille with a lemon cream for dessert.

Jacob trained at Highlands on a ‘Progression Diploma in Culinary Arts and Restaurant Service’ course, achieving a distinction.

Commenting on Jacob’s achievement, Highlands’ Eileen Buicke-Kelly, Director – Culinary Arts, Hospitality Studies and Catering said: “We are delighted to see the progression Jacob has made since his time here at Highlands. Winning locally and then being invited to compete at a national level is a tremendous achievement for him and real honour for the college.”

Previous winners of the Young National Chef of Year have gone on to join the cheffing elite. Jacob, who has future ambitions of opening his own restaurant, is hoping that his appearance at the ‘The Restaurant Show’, held in Olympia, London, will lead to similar success.

In the meantime, the young chef, who has been nominated for a ‘Pride of Jersey’ award, is spending some of his summer at the Hotel Institute Montreux, Switzerland, after winning a hospitality competition organised by Careers Jersey in association with the Swiss Education Group (SEG). The prize was an all-expenses paid trip to undertake a two-week course that will give him an invaluable insight into the industry in a country accepted as having the highest standards of hospitality.