ZEST QUEST ASIA 2025 NOW OPEN FOR ENTRIES

Zest Quest Asia launches twelfth annual competition, with new semi-finalist round

Fortuitously timed during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival period, the launch of the 12th Zest Quest Asia competition means that colleges throughout the UK should lose no time harvesting the talent and ambition of students longing to demonstrate their knowledge and skill in Asian cookery.

Created by restaurateurs Cyrus and Pervin Todiwala with the support of the Master Chefs of Great Britain in 2013, Zest Quest Asia has served as the springboard for many budding culinary careers enriched by exposure to authentic Asian ingredients and cooking styles.  With the ongoing dearth of Asian food courses on the curriculum, the competition has helped to fill a skills gap.  The stakes are high, as Asian cuisine - particularly Indian and Chinese - continues to dominate the UK food scene, with British diners growing increasingly accustomed to and demanding genuine Asian tastes and flavours.

Students and their tutors are invited to express their interest to the organisers by Friday, 1st November 2024, with the deadline for actual submissions set for Friday, 6th December 2024.  To encourage participation from colleges of all sizes, in the last few weeks, the Todiwalas announced that for the first time, funding support towards the preparation of their Zest Quest Asia 2025 entries would be made available from the Savoy Educational Trust, The Antonio Carluccio Foundation and the Worshipful Company of Cooks of London.

In addition, a new semi-final phase introduced this year will afford teams the opportunity to finesse their entries for the final round and is expected to include a video presentation.  As in all previous years, the finals will consist of a live cook-off and presentation to be held in the kitchens of the University of West London.  The process, designed for fairness and rigour, will enable judges to score competitors in terms of both their practical skills and theoretical knowledge, the latter including the history and culture embodied by specific cuisines.  The winners will be announced at a Gala Dinner and Awards Night to be held at the Hilton London Wembley on Friday, 4th April 2025.

The competition will uphold its tradition of awarding a trip of a lifetime to Asia to the Zest Quest Asia 2025 overall winners, the destination remaining a closely held secret until the Gala Dinner.  Current champions, The Sheffield College, recently claimed their prize in India, sponsored by Tilda Foodservice, where amidst their many food experiences, the students were able to visit the Taj Mahal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Cyrus Todiwala said, “I am extremely excited about Zest Quest Asia 2025.  This year we have redesigned the competition to pave the way for more colleges to enter.  We have some new industry sponsors, and we have secured pledges of funding from three of our industry’s esteemed bodies, the Savoy Educational Trust, The Antonio Carluccio Foundation and The Worshipful Company of Cooks of London.  Now colleges can qualify for the semi-finals phase, widening the scope for colleges to qualify for the finals.

“I have never felt more confident about the future of our competition and urge everyone to buy early-bird tickets for our Gala Dinner and Awards Night.  Mark your calendars and prepare to share the joy of our brilliant student chefs!”

Colleges should submit their expressions of interest in Zest Quest Asia 2025 by Friday, 1st November to Cora Strachan at cmsevents@btinternet.com.  

Closing date for submission of entries is Friday, 6th December 2024.

Early-bird tickets to the Zest Quest Asia Gala Dinner and Awards Night will be available until the end of December 2024 from www.zestquestasia.org
£90 for individual tickets and £900 for a table of ten.