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Trevor demonstrated his culinary skills to a packed audience in the College's Erin Restaurant Kitchens

09/09/2009
Top Chef Cooks-up Lesson for Catering Students

World travelled chef Trevor Hambley, now head chef at Derry’s Beech Hill Country House Hotel, has been firing-up catering students at North West Regional College by telling them that hard work and a real enthusiasm for cooking could lead them to the glamorous life he has enjoyed.

As executive chef to two Formula One motor racing teams, Trevor has already been around the world several times. He has cooked for the top racing drivers, royalty and for some of the biggest names in showbusiness, including Madonna.

This week he was invited to speak to newly arrived catering students at the College’s School of Hospitality, Tourism and Sport. While saying that good chefs, both men and women, could certainly build a great life-style for themselves, they should be aware of the realities of life in the kitchen which could be demanding with long and anti-social working hours. He said the best advice he could give them was to take note of everything they were told by the college’s knowledgeable lecturers whose only wish was to place them successfully on a sound career path. 

Trevor prepared a variety of simple dishes while the students looked on. Then they were able to sample some Oriental savoury food, cakes and pastries. And he told them that women make the best pastry chefs because they are more precise, have lots of patience and are therefore better than men with small, intricate work.

Head of the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Sport, Karen McLaughlin, said: “We very much value the participation of industry. Their input is invaluable and visits from people like Trevor greatly help us to prepare our students for their future employment.”

Hospitality lecturer Margaret Ann O’Sullivan said: “Trevor’s talk to our students went down so well. They learned about more opportunities in the catering world than they would have thought existed and today will have given them the drive they need.”