Sustainability gets hot in The Kitchin

SUSTAINABILITY of food and social media in the industry provided the ingredients to help two Queen Margaret University students to win inaugural awards from Edinburgh-based Kitchin Group.

MSc Gastronomy students, Noah Erhun from the US, and Sanna Dahllöf from Sweden, have been announced as its first two University Excellence Award winners, a new annual scholarship to help boost career prospects for QMU students.

They will now receive financial support to carry out independent research into sustainable food and the use of social media in the food industry.

Over the next three years, Kitchin Group’s Annual Award for Excellence will also offer QMU’s international hospitality, tourism, and events management students the chance to apply for the scholarship to help support their studies.

The partnership will also offer QMU’s budding restauranteurs and hospitality professionals the opportunity to gain valuable work experience and potential employment within Kitchin Group which includes Michelin star restaurant The Kitchin – led by Scottish chef Tom Kitchin, award-winning Castle Terrace Restaurant and The Scran & Scallie which was recently awarded a prestigious Michelin Bib Gourmand.

Ron Kitchin, chairman of Kitchin Group, said: “As a business, we’re passionate about fostering talent and supporting young people who are interested in a career in the industry.

“The Excellence Award will not only offer students financial and practical support with their studies but will give them an unparalleled insight into the world of a busy, successful and diverse hospitality business, and the opportunity of hands on work-experience within Kitchin Group.”

Winner Noah said: “I’m really grateful to the Kitchin Group for its financial support. This award is vital in allowing me to fully pursue my research, which I believe is complementary to the work and philosophy of the Kitchin Group itself.”

Sanna added: “Support from the Kitchin Group is highly valuable for my planned research. To get an insight into the organisation through my research is also a great opportunity for my personal development and my future career.

“Through my research I want to explore chefs’ interpretations of sustainability in relation to fish, and how they put this understanding into practice, as well as which obstacles that they may encounter.”

Professor Monika Foster, from QMU, said: “We’re extremely grateful to Kitchin Group for its investment and wish Noah and Sanna every success as they become the first QMU students to benefit from Kitchin Group’s Annual Award for Excellence.”

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