PEOPLE IN FOOD
Headed up by chef Joe Hurd, Lifetime’s Chef Academy is equipping apprentices with the skills and enthusiasm they need for a career in modern hospitality
Joe Hurd has been busy sharing his passion for pasta.
The Yorkshire chef has Italian family and the cuisine is a specialism of his. He’s been teaching classes on the simple traditions you’d find at a local piazza – pasta sauces, risottos; the things his grandparents showed him when he was younger. His students are apprentices in the hospitality industry. Most have never cranked a pasta maker before, but by the end of the day they often can’t wait to do it again. ‘They discover a spark within themselves,’ he says.
These classes are part of Chef Academy, for which Joe is chef trainer and ambassador. Created in 2020 by Lifetime Training, the largest apprenticeship training provider in the UK, it provides a range of masterclasses designed to give chef apprentices the technical skills they’ll need in a kitchen in 2024 and beyond, filling in some of the gaps left by traditionally broad apprenticeships. ‘We wanted to create a course that could foster a love of cooking and hospitality, which is also responsive to the needs of the modern catering industry,’ says Joe.
The masterclasses are taught by chef mentors around the UK and are open to apprentices across the culinary spectrum, from workers at fast-food restaurants to fine-dining establishments. Each class is designed to be reflective of the social media generation. The meat and poultry module might include jointing and butchery, while the plant-based course looks at current worldwide trends. ‘The masterclasses impart all the classical needs, but in the most modern, welcoming way, with the flexibility of responding to what young people are eating, seeing and liking,’ explains Joe. ‘In one moment, it can be teaching the foundations of Escoffier and classic French cooking, and in the other, it can be looking at South Korean street food.’
‘We wanted to create a course that could foster a love of cooking and hospitality’
As well as other core masterclasses in fish and shellfish, and cakes and desserts, there are specialist courses in cuisines, including pan-Asian an
