London badly needs to raise its game when it comes to culinary education and training. This report makes the case for establishing a London College of Food, sets out how it might work in practice and explains why the idea needs investment now.
While the capital has established a reputation as a leading food city, attracting talented chefs from around the world, its own catering colleges have suffered from lack of funding, attention and ambition.
London needs a new model for culinary training that can rise to the challenges it faces on workforce shortages, inclusion, social mobility and climate change, while also supporting the hospitality industry to recover from coronavirus and Brexit.
Recommendations
We recommend establishing a London College of Food: a culinary equivalent to the capital’s great art, design and fashion colleges.
This college would:
- Provide a range of entry-level and advanced courses to increase learner numbers.
- Be established as a further education institution to minimise set up time and costs.
- Operate on a ‘hub and spoke’ model to offer the prestige of world class centre of excellence alongside colleges across the city offering local courses.