Chef’s Golden Hat INDUSTRY FEATURE Country Club apprentice Meg Jessup is a little over a year into her hospitality career but the rising star is already making waves. The 20-year-old recently won the Tasmanian final of the Nestle Golden Chef’s Hat competition, and in September will go head-to- head with 11 other finalists from around Australia and New Zealand in the grand final. F or as long as she can remember, Meg Jessup has been interested in cooking. She can still recall being a youngster and watching her parents in the kitchen, and then jumping in and lending a helping hand as she got older. And despite being a self-confessed fussy eater as a child, her love of food and flavours has led her into a career which is flourishing despite its infancy. Meg joined the Country Club as an apprentice chef in June last year and has quickly impressed with her dedication and passion for the industry. This shone through at the recent Tasmanian cook-offs in the Golden Chef’s Hat Competition, where in a highly competitive environment she was crowned the winner and advanced to the national finals. The well renowned competition offers apprentice and young chefs a unique opportunity to showcase their skills in live cook-offs judged to globally recognised standards, giving them
a platform to fast track their development and careers.
“I have always really been interested in cooking. Ever since I was a little kid, I was always sitting up at the bench with my parents whenever they were cooking dinner, and from a really young age, just started cooking,” Meg says. “Even though I was really fussy as a kid, it’s been really great to develop my own flavour palette and learning different cooking techniques and flavours has been something that’s grown and grown in interest as I’ve grown up. Since starting my apprenticeship, it’s as strong as it’s been. “That’s what I’m hoping to get out of my career, I see food as more of an experience, rather than just what you put on a plate and give to someone. What I want to be able to do is give people an experience when they eat any kind of food. “I love going to restaurants and having an experience more than just tasting something and walking out the door. That’s what I’m aiming to achieve, as I go on in my career, to create those unique and creative flavours and textures and dishes and all that kind of stuff. I’m really interested in the creative side of cooking.”
44 Tasmanian Hospitality Review Aug/Sep Edition
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