Casey's Cooking Competition in Venice

Earlier this month, Level 3 Professional Cookery student Casey Lamb spent a few fantastic days in Padova, Italy for the first CombiGuru UK challenge at the UNOX HQ. Competing against students from 16 other UK colleges, we’re thrilled that Casey placed 5th in the competition. 

Joining forces with The Burnt Chef Project, UNOX Italy opened its well-established CombiGuru Challenge to UK colleges for the first time this year. As a leading manufacturer of commercial ovens for the food industry, UNOX aim to inspire culinary creativity and give gentle exposure to Hospitality and Catering students through the competition. The students and their lecturers were also able to hear about sustainable energy cooking solutions and attend workshops and open discussions on sustainable people practices during the trip.  

After making it through the first rounds of the competition in the CombiGuru app, Casey was notified that she’d made it to the finals and flew to Venice with her Student Mentor, Stacey, to represent the college. 

During the competition, the students had to create a two-course meal in 90 minutes using the UNOX CombiGuru ovens. They had a pantry with ingredients and were told on the day to include a mystery ingredient for both courses. In this case, Casey had to get creative with using capers in the main meal, and cinnamon in the dessert. 

Casey performed brilliantly in tough competition against the other students and was very proud of her achievement. To top off the experience, on the final day the students were treated to a tour of Venice, which included a trip to the Murano glass factory and lunch at a Michelin starred restaurant, in a vineyard on one of the Venetian islands.  

What an amazing experience! 

If you’re interested in following in her footsteps and beginning your culinary journey, take a look at our Catering and Hospitality courses today: