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The Staff Canteen Live 2017 welcomed on stage, Matt Worswick, Mark Poynton, Nathan Eades and Luke Holder for the third day of the International Food and Drink Exhibition 2017.

Matt Worswick, head chef at the Latymer, was the first chef to join The Staff Canteen on stage. Matt, who has previously worked under David Everitt-Matthias at the two Michelin-starred ‘Le Champignon Sauvage’. He cooked a salt baked celeriac dish with lovage cream for his first dish followed by a hogget, mushroom and wild garlic dish.

After his demo Matt talked about his experience on The Staff Canteen stage, he said: “It’s good to showcase what we’re doing at the restaurant, it can be quite a challenge to reproduce it on the stage in the middle of London but overall it went well.”

He added: “The Staff Canteen is a great medium for the industry, it’s a great source for news and information - not just for young chefs. Everybody should get involved and support it.”

Matt explained the benefits live demos saying: “When I started out there wasn’t that many of these events around and it’s great to be an ambassador for the industry and hopefully inspire people.”

Next up on stage was Mark Poynton, chef patron at Restaurant Alimentum, cooking a scallop curry inspired by his time spent in India.

Talking about his demo, Mark said: “It was a good experience although it was a bit nerve racking being in front of other chefs that are there watching you and asking for advice.

“It’s great for young chefs to be a part of the audience because you get to see what chefs are really like and what their personality is like. It gives you a real insight into what their kitchen is going to be like.”

He added: “The Staff Canteen has been massively important to me since I started Alimentum seven years ago. I think that it’s something that every chef should aspire to be part of. It’s great for sourcing recipes, looking for jobs, seeing what chefs are doing, seeing what’s on-trend, there are so many videos and great references so I think any chef should want to be part of The Staff Canteen.”

The live demos at The International Food and Drink Exhibition wouldn’t be possible without the help of our sponsor Essential Cuisine who also joined us at the ExCel London for the event. They said: “The live shows are fantastic. The high-quality chefs that are on stage are amazing and to see them using our products in their demos is great.”

Nathan Eades was next up on The Staff Canteen Live cooking a duck, turnip, kale and lingonberry dish.

He said: “Live demos allow you to not only pick up advice from chefs but also allow you to see that chefs are actual human beings.

“For me The Staff Canteen is one of several platforms that we have in the UK at the pinnacle of their game they give a platform to chefs, whether it’s a three Michelin star chef or a chef that’s in a pub or a college chef – everyone’s on a level playing field where they can share ideas and collaborate with each other on the app. For me it’s very important and quite humbling to be a part of that.”

Our final chef was Luke Holder, executive chef and business partner of Angela Hartnett at ‘The Lime Wood hotel’. Luke presented the audience with stuffed quail, nduja and white bean stew baked under a bread crust.

He enjoyed his live demo on The Staff Canteen stage, saying: “There was a good crowd, it’s an amazing event. It’s great to get out of the kitchen and showcase what we do to a different audience to those people we have in our hotel.”

Tomorrow is our final day at The International Food and Drink Exhibition – see all of the images from the week over on our Facebook.

By Rosie Drew