Mayo chef to compete for National Chef's Cup

AN award-winning chef from Mayo is to compete for the honour of being crowned Aramark’s Chef of the Year in Ireland.

Ronan Fox has been shortlisted to compete at the National Chef’s Cup on February 22 in the RDS.

Eight of Aramark Ireland’s finest chefs will compete, aiming to win their chance to represent Ireland at the European Chef’s Cup when chefs from across Europe will compete for top honours in Croke Park on March 2.

The National Chef’s Cup is a challenging and tough competition. Using only Irish ingredients, Ronan will be required to prepare, cook and present a main course within 60 minutes.

The judging panel will include award-winning chef and Aramark culinary director Derek Reilly and Michelin star chef Ross Lewis from Dublin’s Chapter One Restaurant.

Aramark will also unveil ‘A History of Irish Food’ - a three-minute film exploring traditional Irish dishes, foods, their origins and popular trends incorporating Irish ingredients - at Croke Park.

Ronan has been head chef in Mayo University Hospital for the last two years. He trained in DIT Cathal Brugha Street and GMIT and gained work experience in both France and Denmark.

On his return he opened restaurants such as that in The Diamond Coast Hotel, eventually opening his own restaurant and coming runner-up in Connaught for best restaurant.

Since joining the team at Mayo University Hospital, Ronan has over seen allergen implementation, worked to build a recipe database for calorie display, succeeded in Happy Heart, Excellence Ireland and ISO 22000 Awards for Mayo University Hospital while continually trying to improve food offer through the cook chill, cook freeze and cook fresh production systems.

Ronan volunteers to help organise events each year, including Cycle Against Suicide, Food Fleadh Ballina, Bonniconlon show, Taste of Mayo and The Future of Food event in Galway.

Ronan believes his future is in health care, delivering and developing a patient’s individual nutritional needs.