University chef in BBC Final

04 Mar 2014

A University of Manchester chef is in the running to be named 'Cook of the Year' by BBC Radio 4.

Deborah Kerrmath heads up the catering for Ashburne Hall, within 'Food In Residence' at Owens Park, serving two meals a day to more than 160 students.

BBC Radio 4 has placed Deborah in the final three as part of their Food and Farming Awards 2014. The Awards have been running for the past 14 years, but this year has broken the record for public response with the highest number of entries ever received.

Deborah said: "I am tremendously honoured to be nominated for this prestigious award, and really pleased for myself and the catering team that we have reached the final. The inclusion of high quality sustainable products on my freshly-prepared menu from local growers and farms is undoubtedly a fundamental passion of mine and it is fantastic that my students can celebrate such good food every day! I hope the students will join me and 'tune in' to BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme, on Sunday."

Chair of this year’s judging panel, cook, writer and broadcaster Valentine Warner said: "The scale of the public’s response has been overwhelming. We’ve seen more than 6000 nominations this year; a truly record breaking number and when we started to read through, it was humbling."

This year’s finalists will feature in a special edition of BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme* to be broadcast this Sunday, 9 March. Winners will be announced at a ceremony held in Bristol on Thursday 1 May 2014. The judging panel includes celebrity chef Raymond Blanc.

Deborah has worked in partnership with a number of organisations to create more opportunities for small scale farmers and growers in Manchester to sell their produce.

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* The Food Programme is on Radio 4 every Sunday at 12.30pm and repeated on Mondays at 3.30pm.