Anyone who doubts the ambition, commitment and passion of Scotland's young people could learn something from those who entered the Young Talent category of the Scotland Food And Drink Excellence Awards 2012.
Previously only open to chefs, the category was expanded this year to acknowledge talent across the sector. As one of the judges, meeting the young finalists was a thoroughly uplifting experience.
Jamie Hutcheon left school at 15 but he has been director of his own company since the age of 17. Now 21, his chocolate-making business, Cocoa Ooze, has an annual turnover of £200,000. After completing a course in hospitality he worked as a trainee chef at Aberdeen's five-star Marcliffe Hotel and also with Beverley Dunkley, one of the UK's leading chocolate experts from the Barry Caillebaut Chocolate Academy. Hutcheon decided there was a gap in the market for a luxury chocolate producer and founded Cocoa Ooze, which he initially ran from his mother's kitchen. He uses regional ingredients such as cream from Inverurie and freeze-dried strawberries from Fraserburgh.
"It was the greatest pleasure for me when I opened my own shop in Peterculter in August last year," Hutcheon told the judges (who also included Sophie Fraser from Scotland Food & Drink and Ross Marshall, head chef at the Road Hole Restaurant at the Old Course Hotel, St Andrews, and the incumbent Young Chef of the Year). "From there, I could undertake all aspects of running my own business. I am constantly striving to acquire new skill sets."
Like the other candidates, Hutcheon believes young people are too often portrayed in a negative light.
His fellow runner-up was Sarah Allison, also 21, who left school at 16 and is studying for a BSc (Hons) degree in green technology at the Scottish Agricultural College (and is the only girl on the course). She's the main lamber of 100 pedigree Texel ewes at her parents' farm in the Borders. She organises the family's four visits to farmers markets every week.
Although due to graduate in 18 months she's set to embark on a dissertation on the effect temperature has on nitrogen uptake in spring barley. She is determined to bring farming into the 21st century, and to get women more widely recognised.
"Many people have the conception that the food industry is just about farming when it completely isn't, and I'd like to encourage more young people, especially women, to apply their skills to it," she said.
The overall winner was Fredrika Cockburn, supervisor of the Bollinger Bar at the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh. Cockburn, 24, studied psychology, and started as a waitress with Tony Singh at Oloroso and at Three Chimneys in Skye before concentrating on wine and spirits. She is bursting with vibrancy and is also ambassador for Springboard, which helps unemployed and disadvantaged young people into careers in hospitality, leisure and tourism.
"I am proud to work in Scotland and my job gives me satisfaction like no other job. I'm crazy passionate about it, it's wicked, and I kind of think I get it." Quite. n
For a full list of winners, visit www.scotlandfoodanddrink.org/events.
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