Cook up a career in Professional Cookery
It’s impossible to learn everything from cookbooks, but not impossible to learn everything in Ayrshire College’s Hospitality department. It’s a great place to start your Professional Cookery education.
We spoke to two Professional Cookery students who are following their food dream at Ayrshire College.
Iona Duncan, a Professional Cookery student from Irvine said,
“Coming to college straight from school, I’ve learnt so much! One of the highlights for me has been getting the opportunity to take part in the Country Range Student Chef Challenge competition for the last 2 years. We were asked by our lecturer, Annemarie Farr, if we would like to take part. I think I was asked because I showed that I was a good team player.
The first time we took part in the competition we won! This year we got through to the finals in London. We competed against 10 teams from across the UK, so it was a great achievement. We just went for it!
The professional cookery courses at the college are great. They cover everything you need to know, you learn about every section. The kitchens are top of the range, they’re the same as you would get in a professional kitchen, so it’s a realistic place to learn.
I’m going on to do HNC Professional Cookery this year. I’m hoping to be a pastry chef once I finish at College, working in a five star hotel.”
Jennifer Thomson is studying HNC Professional Cookery. Here’s what she has to say about her time at college:
“I’ve always known that I wanted to be a Home Economics Teacher, but I didn’t get all the grades I needed at first in school.
A really good stepping stone for me was doing the Higher in Professional Cookery when I was in 6th year of school. It meant coming to the college a couple of times a week to study. That’s when I found out about all of the hospitality courses available and I knew I wanted to go on to do this as a career.
I was really pleased I got the opportunity to do the course in 6th year. It meant that I learnt what route to take that works best for me. It helped that I already knew some of the lecturers, and had an idea of what to expect at college, so I came to college and worked my way up.
The college’s facilities are really good. There’s everything you need here. The kitchen facilities are fab, and you get to work in the college restaurants every week too.
The Professional Cookery course has helped me get to where I am now – on my way to university. I’m going into second year of a Food and Nutrition degree. The course includes teacher training, so it’ll only be a couple more years before I’m a qualified Home Economics teacher.
Schools are crying out for Home Economics teachers at the moment, so it’s good to know that you are almost guaranteed a job at the end of all the studying and hard work.”
Read more about our Professional Cookery Courses and Hospitality courses