School Chef of the Year Erin Ward dedicated the award to her late father – her biggest cheerleader who always urged her to push herself. Despite shyness and a serious kitchen injury, the Chef Manager at Holmer Green school in High Wycombe has followed his advice to the letter.

Where did your passion for food begin?

My first kitchen was a Fisher-Price plastic one in my Wendy house, where I spent hours pretending to be Delia Smith. My mum gave me pastry scraps to make jam tarts, and when I was doing A-levels to be a biochemist I had jobs on a supermarket meat and fish counter and peeling potatoes and carrots in a pub for pocket money.

What drew you to the career?

For 21 years it’s been the pace, camaraderie and deadlines. I’ve always loved giving people ‘the yums’ because food should be fun. There’s nothing better than watching someone put something in their face and then have a huge smile.

How did your father inspire you?

We lost him suddenly in 2022. It made me think I should try the stuff that terrifies me because you don’t know how long you’ve got – he’d have been so proud of me for just trying.

How did you get into professional cooking?

After my A-levels I did an apprenticeship at Westminster Kingsway College and from there moved to a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant in Windsor. The chef there believed in seasonal produce and minimal things on a plate. He taught us to butcher our own cows, buy in whole sheep and work with lobsters and fish. He taught me to respect the ingredients.

Were you made for the job?

No. It was more a gradual building of confidence. At first,
I was exceedingly shy and didn’t like talking to people or going out of my comfort zone. But the kitchen helps push all those boundaries and showed me how I thrive under pressure or in the face of a challenge. The buzz of fast-paced service and fixing things when they go wrong is quite addictive.

But my resolve was tested when an unbolted oven fell on me, leaving me with a disc injury and burns. It forced me into a fixed site role and the company I’m with now, so every cloud. I’m now completing a Level 5 coaching apprenticeship and sitting on the judging panel for the next School Chef of the Year Awards as well as all the administrative work.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

My comfort after a post-work night out is tinned hot dogs cut up into tinned macaroni cheese… it’s got to be tinned, I don’t know why. Another go-to is a cheat katsu of pre-breaded chicken with a quick sauce of coconut milk, curry powder and peanut butter. And then there’s the one I blurted out on stage after I won my award which I immediately regretted – sausages with tuna mayonnaise as a garnish.