VANCOUVER — Camilo Lapointe-Nascimento of Montreal’s Le Mousso was awarded the Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship following the competition’s national finals held October 6.
As the winner, Lapointe-Nascimento received $10,000; an ultimate cookware set from Zwilling J.A. Henckels; prizes from Nespresso, KitchenAid and Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry; and an opportunity to stage at a globally renowned restaurant. He also took home the Best Dessert Award presented by Cacao Barry, the prize for which is an all-expense-paid trip to the chocolate academy in Montreal to attend a masterclass of his choosing.
Ben Miller of West Restaurant + Bar was the runner up, taking home a $5,000 cash prize, as well as the coveted Young Professionalism Award and $2,000 from Gordon Food Service. Third place went to Dan Angus of Cambridge, Ont.’s Langdon Hall, who took home a $3,000 prize.
Now in its seventh year, the Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship National Finals included a three-day participant program for finalists, including an educational farm tour courtesy of Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry; an evening wine tasting with Select Wines; an Italian master class led by Michelin-starred chef Agostino Iacobucci courtesy of the Italian Trade Agency; and a chocolate workshop with fourth-generation pâtissier Thomas Haas presented by Cacao Barry.
The eight finalists competed at Vancouver’s Dirty Apron Cooking School and Delicatessen, creating a main dish and a dessert using common pantry ingredients provided by Gordon Food Service and Club House for Chefs, as well as a selection of mandatory ‘Black-Box’ ingredients. The 2019 Black Box ingredients were sea bream, Fraser Valley duck sausage, daikon radish, sugar pumpkin, cipollini onion, passionfruit and 70-per-cent Cacao Barry chocolate.
The finals were judged by a panel of 10 judges, including Kristian Eligh, Lee Cooper, Chris Stewart, Adam Pegg, Renée Lavallée, Nicole Gomes, Renée Bellefeuille, Rhonda Viani, Agostino Iacobucci and David Hawksworth.
Applications for next year’s competition open January 2020. More information is available at hawksworthscholarship.com.
