Gluten-free Chef of the Year: Winners revealed

By Luke Nicholls

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Coming gluten-free chef Chef Culinary art

The winners: Christian Dean Young (left) and Jose Manuel De Freitas (right) with Coeliac Chef of the Year judge Phil Vickery
The winners: Christian Dean Young (left) and Jose Manuel De Freitas (right) with Coeliac Chef of the Year judge Phil Vickery
Chef Phil Vickery has announced the winners of the CoeliacUK Gluten-free Chef of the Year competition which aims to raise awareness and highlight the need for increased provision of gluten-free menu options for people suffering with Coeliac disease. 

Following a cook-off by the six finalists on Monday (12 November), the winner was revealed as Jose Manuel De Freitas, second chef at the Four Seasons Health Care restaurant in the Silver Springs Care Home in Jersey.

The Up and Coming Gluten-free Chef of the Year award went to Christian Dean Young from Wellingborough, who is studying professional chef level 2 at Northampton College.

"To cook these dishes in a live final is a real achievement," said Vickery. "With a growing market to service the hundreds of thousands of people looking for gluten-free options, the demand for skilled chefs is likely to boom and this competition showcases the best of the talent out there."

De Freitas won a one-week placement at Gleneagles with chef Andrew Fairlie, while Christian Dean Young won a placement at The Pass at South Lodge with chef Matt Gillan. Both winners win a set of knives courtesy of 3663 and all six finalists were presented with a year’s membership to the Craft Guild of Chefs and gift vouchers from Sodexo.

The competition is run in association with the Institute of Hospitality and the Craft Guild of Chefs, with the cook-off taking place at the Unilever Food Solutions Culinary Business Development Centre in Leatherhead.

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