CULINARY students from Reading cooked up a storm, preparing hundreds of dishes for Royal Ascot guests.

Professional Culinary Arts students from Reading College got a taste for their future careers by doing work experience at Royal Ascot on from June 20-24. 

The students were spread across various kitchens, preparing a variety of fine-dining experiences for the guests at Royal Ascot, from afternoon tea to lunches.  

Some of them worked with the Head Chef of Manchester City Football Club, who came down to prepare and cook dishes at the royal event, which student Aser Andange said was ‘unreal’.

“The work experience is unreal! I met a lot of high-grade people, including the Head Chef of Manchester City Football Club. It’s one of my dreams to work as a chef for a football club”, Aser said.  

Aser, who is studying a Professional Culinary Arts Level 2 Diploma at Reading College, added: “I enjoyed working with people from different backgrounds with varying levels of skills at Royal Ascot. I got to work in lots of different areas and restaurants, which has given me lots of different experience of working in a fast-paced environment.  

“It's helped me to see a career path and driven me more to do what I love, which is cooking. I see myself doing this in the future.”  

Hayden Rushby, hospitality lecturer at Activate Learning, said it was “great” to see the students getting hands on experience at the busy event.

“They got to experience a very busy environment, where they were preparing dishes for 600 covers a day, which is a different pressure for them. 

“It also helped some of the students to come out of themselves a bit more and inspire them to continue their studies at Level 3 and delve deeper.”