Tante Marie Students Find the Right Formula with Absolute Taste

On Friday 10 th February a team of students from Tante Marie were invited to work alongside the professional Absolute Taste team at the Mc Laren Technology Centre in Woking, where McLaren were launching the ir new Formula One car and hosting almost 2,500 guests and employees.

Absolute Taste,whose Managing Director Lyndy Redding is a graduate of Tante Marie, sponsors our Absolute Taste Scholarship, and amongst the students at the launch was Ben Blake, our current Absolute Taste scholar.

Ben, who is looking forward to gaining his Tante Marie Cordon Bleu Diploma in June this year, describes the occasion:

“Twelve of us Tante Marie students were distributed among various stations in the McLaren Centre, where we helped to cook a variety of different dishes. Working with Lyndy and Absolute Taste was brilliant, and we certainly learnt a lot, including what it is like to cook for 2,500 at an event like this! That is a real challenge and the food needed to be simple but appetising and attractive .

“After the afternoon's cooking we were taken as guests up to the Royal Albert Hall to see the Cirque de Soleil which was also a brilliant experience: the new McLaren Formula One car was lowered from the ceiling, which was quite an honour as we were amongst the first to see it!

“Many thanks to Lyndy and Absolute Taste, and to McLaren, for this fantastic introduction to cooking in a professional situation. For most of us it was our first experience of working beside professional chefs and it was unforgettable.”

An eye opener for our students? Well, we do always say that there are plenty of glamorous jobs for Tante Marie graduates. Lyndy and her team, which include others trained at Tante Marie, not only undertake McLaren's hospitality at all the Grand Prix around the world, but manage and cater at many other events for prestigious clients throughout the year.

Click on Careers to find out more about career opportunities for our graduates and what just a selection of our past students are now doing around the world.