Local Food Heroes - Stephen Wheeler speaks to Shaun Naen of Gloucestershire College
Shaun Naen is head chef and lecturer at Renaissance, the training kitchen and restaurant at Gloucestershire College in Cheltenham. Every year he takes under his wing around ten Stage 3 aspiring chefs and coaches them in ‘reality’ kitchen – the last step in a three year learning journey before they venture into a professional environment. I asked Shaun how he inspires his student chefs. “I like to make working in a kitchen exciting. I make it challenging and always different, and teach them how to counteract the stress of restaurant service with what I call kitchen ‘karma’. I always take an immense pride in their achievements once they’ve left college.”
So where did Shaun learn his kitchen ‘karma’? “I was born in Borneo. My grandmother was a superb cook, and created dishes for the family, fusing the Indian and Chinese culinary influences of Malaysian cooking. She had one large pot on a charcoal fire – here I have seven different industrial ovens!”
Intent on becoming a top chef, Shaun left Borneo and trained in England, and then at a top cookery school in Paris. Back in England, he went on to win numerous accolades including Chef of the Year. Recently Shaun had the honour of preparing lunch for the Queen at Gloucestershire College. “Cooking for Her Majesty was definitely my greatest achievement,” he said, “I had to compile five different menus and submit them to Buckingham Palace. She chose venison, which we sourced locally in Gloucestershire. The hardest part was keeping it all secret for three months!”
Shaun spends time each year visiting schools in Gloucestershire, talking to pupils about the importance of cooking skills and diet. He told me that he would love local chefs to visit his college kitchen to give talks and demonstrations. “My ‘reality’ kitchen would benefit enormously from some other ‘reality’ chefs at the stove.”
So how would Shaun survive if he were to find himself stranded on a desert island? I would just need some rice and salt. The rest I would hunt, fish and forage for quite happily. I would make my own special rosehip gin, but my luxury item would have to be chocolate”.
I left with the feeling that Renaissance chef-students are in the extremely capable hands of this modest yet passionate Gloucestershire Food Hero.
To see the actual article, click here
2nd January 2010
Follow us