BASC cooks up a storm with colleges across the country

BASC’s wild food team is celebrating educating more than 700 members of the next generation of chefs about game meat in the last year.

BASC has worked with 36 colleges across the UK since early 2021 to highlight the field to fork journey of game meat to students and staff and to highlight and promote its versatility, benefits and fantastic flavours.

The college visits culminated in the launch of a competition, with the overall winner going on to cook their winning dish at the Eat Game Awards in London in March.

Open to catering students across the UK, the cooking competition saw budding chefs devising their own original canapes using venison mince. Competition entries were judged on creativity, recipe clarity, presentation and suitability for the awards ceremony. The top five entries were invited to cook their dishes for an expert panel of judges.

Highland Game, the UK’s leading venison brand, supplied wild British venison mince to the colleges to make the competition fully inclusive and accessible to all students.

Matt Gisby, BASC’s wild game officer, said it was hoped that the competition would raise awareness of the versatility of game meat and educate the next generation of chefs in game cookery, ensuring game is featured on future menus throughout the country.

The competition winner Kia Vincent, a student at Fareham College in Hampshire, wowed the judging panel with her winning dish – a Jamaican style venison patty – which she then went on to cook for 250 guests at the Eat Game Awards ceremony. She has also been invited on a guided deer stalk as part of her prize.

The judges were in “100 per cent agreement” that Kia should be crowned winner, with Matt Gisby calling her a “very worthy winner” with her “standout dish”.

BASC’s work with colleges is ongoing. To book your college in, email matt.gisby@basc.org.uk