A YORK school chef will be battling it out next month to become School Chef of the Year 2021.

Becky Crossley, who until recently was chef at York High School in Acomb, will represent Yorkshire and Humberside at the 2021 School Chef of the Year national final.

The event will take place at the Birmingham Hilton Metropole, NEC on October 12 - 13 and Becky is no stranger to the contest, having secured a place in the regional finals in both 2019 and 2020.

Becky is one of nine regional winners will go head to head at the nationals in a bid to win the national trophy and £1,000 in prize money.

The winner will also be awarded a work experience trip and an invitation to a calendar of high profile catering industry engagements. The national second and third place winners will receive cash prizes of £500 and £300 respectively.

All participants in the LACA School Chef of the Year Competition have a maximum of £1.40 to spend and 90 minutes to prepare, cook and serve an imaginative two course meal suitable for serving en masse in primary and secondary schools.

With the inspiration for their ingredients, flavours and themes drawn from home and abroad, the contestants’ delicious main courses and desserts are destined to seriously challenge the taste buds of the judges at the national final.

On the day Becky's menu will feature a main she's called 'Street food of York', featuring Minster pizza, Shambles salad, Bootham baked potatoes with a Micklegate mojo dip.

This will be followed by 'Knavesmire Forest Fool', a fruits of the forest jelly layered with lemon fool with a biscuit crumb base.

Organised by LACA – The School Food People and sponsored by Quorn Professionals, School Chef of the Year is the education catering sector’s premier culinary skills competition.

Head of the judging panel is Kate Snow, senior home economist at Quorn Foods. Joining Kate on the panel at the 2021 national final will be an independent catering industry professional guest chef, Stuart Brereton, an education catering expert Sharon Armstrong, and the reigning LACA School Chef of the Year 2020, Holly Charnock from Formby, Liverpool.