huge sector of society."
5. MasterChef: The Professionals 2017 - week 1 by Monica Turnbull
Number five on our most-read list was the return of MasterChef: The Professionals 2017. Judges and renowned chefs Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing are back on our screens, looking for this year's champion. In the first week, we saw duck and soufflé skills tests, which a few of the contestants struggled with, and a spicy invention test - where one chef admitted he doesn't own a spice rack!
On the final day, the remaining chefs had to cook for food critics Jay Rayner and Grace Dent and food writer William Sitwell. Despite the incredible amount of pressure, Gareth Howarth, sous chef at L'Ortolan; Jamie Park, head chef at The Frog and Ryan Blackburn, chef owner at Old Stamp House were put through to knock out week.
4. An Open Letter to (Male) Chefs by chef Tom Colicchio
After a string of celebrity chefs were accused of sexual harassment in America, Tom Colicchio, owner of Crafted Hospitality and ‘Top Chef’ judge, wrote an open letter to his male counterparts to address the sexual harassment prevalent in the hospitality industry.
In the letter (originally published on Tom's Medium account), he writes:
"Assessing a woman as a body, rather than as a person with a mind, character, and talent, denies the full measure of her humanity. It’s wrong and it demeans us all. Real men don’t need to be told this."
Many of our social media followers were quick to praise the chef for speaking out about such an important issue.
3. Michelin starred chef ‘tired’ of the industry's endless rankings and lists
The third story in our list is the complete reverse side of the coin. Having been named the '69th best chef in the world' by an unnamed company, Christian Puglisi posted on his Instagram account calling rankings and awards ‘ridiculous’. The chef and restaurateur is no stranger to accolades, his Copenhagen restaurant Relae holds a star in the Michelin Guide and it is also ranked at No. 39 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.
Christian said: “It’s not sports, it’s not politics. It’s not about votes, it’s not about ratings. It’s about eating, living, cooking, and kicking ass.”
2. Michelin Guide UK 2018: The full list including deletions
Second on our list is no big surprise. The Michelin Guide UK 2018 was announced at another live ceremony on Monday, October 2. The only new three starred restaurant was The Araki, a sushi restaurant run by Japanese chef Mitsuhiro Araki. Many were also pleased to see that Claude Bosi had regained his title, with Claude Bosi at Bibendum being awarded two Michelin stars. Having only opened in April, Claude seemed shocked by the news.
He told The Staff Canteen:
"I was not expecting to go back to two stars straight away – I thought it would be one, then two. But I have the magical two with me and it’s been great… "
In addition to the above, there were also 17 new one stars in this year's selection.
1. Neil Rankin hits back at Gordon Ramsay over drug abuse comments
The most popular (and perhaps most controversial) story in the second half of this year was a Facebook post from Temper chef owner, Neil Rankin. He was responding to comments from Gordon Ramsay, who said "Coke’s everywhere. It’s spiralling out of control." This was ahead of his upcoming TV documentary, Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine.
In the post, Neil addressed Gordon directly and said:
"Its employers like you that made this industry unappealing and held it back for decades and created the long hours that only add to the drug problems."
Rankin's social media response quickly went viral, with chefs flocking to the comments to discuss drug abuse in the industry.
