STUDENTS at Haberdashers’ Monmouth School were given an insight into the professional culinary world, after a recent visit on January 21 from Commercial Director at Leith’s Education, Alistair Turner (Chef AJ).

Haberdashers’ Monmouth is the only school in Wales to offer Leith’s Education courses. Leith’s Education is one of the UK’s most respected education providers in the cooking industry who offer recognised accredited qualifications and food education programmes from ages five to 18 in it’s Partner Programme.

Chef AJ was working with KS5 Haberdashers’ Monmouth students who were making chicken birria tacos where they developed lots of different skills such as knife skills, seasoning, and prepping chicken properly.

One student, said: “I want to do a gap year and be a chalet girl for a few months and so having the Leith’s qualification will help me with that because it is a really well recognised and it will help me be more confident in the kitchen.

“It’s really nice to have chef AJ here to watch us all cook and give us some inspiration.”

Despite not following a traditional route into the cooking industry, Chef AJ shared his knowledge with students, sparking inspiration to those who want to follow pathways in the culinary industry- whether that’s food writing, working on a yacht, or even working as a private chef.

Chef AJ went to university to study architecture but found it wasn’t for him, and moved on to do the Leith’s culinary diploma in London and really enjoyed it.

From there he worked as a chef for five years at Rick Stein’s in Cornwall but found his real passion was in teaching, so he became a food teacher and head of food at a school in Cornwall, now coming full circle working at Leith’s.

This opportunity opens doors to the food industry and teaches students skills, where they get to demonstrate these in real life settings and keep hold of them for their future pathway.