Student Story: Meet Emma Foden

Emma Foden is a private caterer based in Sussex who has her own catering business called Set The Date. She recently took Leiths Online’s 24-week Chef Skills course to sharpen her skills.

You work in food and have your own catering company Set The Date. How long have you worked in catering?

“I used to work in marketing, on the events side, and was really lucky, going all around the world to Japan, Australia, the U.S. But I knew that when I had children – I have three, the oldest is nearly 19 now – I didn’t want to be in an office. In the years before I had children, I had started doing catering as a sideline, then when the company I worked for got taken over, I decided to concentrate on catering. I’ve been catering for well over 20 years. Because my kitchen is accredited, I can do it all from home, so that’s lovely. I’ve been able to fit it in around my children. Doing a wedding for 120 people sometimes felt like less hard work than looking after a screaming toddler!”

“I, on purpose, do a wide range of jobs. I probably do four to five weddings a year but will turn them down if it’s too many. I have some lovely clients; I’ll do some lovely drinks parties and garden parties; and I’ve been lucky enough to cook in Arundel Castle. I’ve done some mad 21st birthday parties, a Harry Potter stag do, a Rocky Horror themed 21st…I’ve worked in everything from Mongolian yurts to teepees to marquees in the woods!”

So, with all that experience, what made you want to study with Leiths Online?

“I learned my skills on the ground. As a teenager and all through university, I used to work in all the local pubs. One day I rocked up and was told I had to do Sunday lunch for 70 covers because the chef had walked out. I was 19. So I’d learned all my skills on the ground, but thought actually, it would be really good to brush up on my skills. You think you’re doing everything the right way but, actually, are you? I wanted to top up my skills, learn new skills, and also get a bit of validation, I suppose, that I was capable of it.

“I did the Chef Skills course. I hadn’t realised that there was anything like that around. I thought the only way you could do a course like that was to do a hands-on course, so when I saw it come up on Instagram, I was interested - I could see how I could fit it in with my work and my family life. There was no way I could say to my husband ‘all right, I’m off to Leiths to enrol in their London school for three months’. That would be lovely but it wasn’t going to happen. So studying online was a really good solution.”

How did you find the experience?

“It was very professional and sleek. The presentations were very good and it was so easy to follow the recipes. The Workshop app is so clever; you can pause and rewind, and it’s very clear in advance which ingredients and equipment you need so you could set it all up beforehand, so you’re not rootling around at the last minute trying to find your garlic!

My mentor Louisa was really on it. Nothing gets past them, and I mean nothing. If part of a dish wasn’t quite perfect, you’d try and hide it underneath, and every time, every time, they’d see it. The process was really helpful. I thought I’d just get a ‘well done, Emma’ or ‘that’s lovely, Emma’ but they gave detailed feedback and tips on how you could tweak things to make it better. If you couldn’t get the ingredients, they would suggest substitutions. If the ingredients were quite expensive, they’d say if you could halve the recipe. Also, they’d tell you when you could freeze something or how many days in advance you could make it and, as a caterer, that’s all I ever really want to know!

I think the important thing is to manage your time well. You have to sort of treat it like a job and say, right, every Tuesday afternoon for the next six months is my Leiths day. It is full on, so you have to schedule it into your diary and block out the time.”

Have you used the new skills and recipes you’ve learned?

“Yes I have. Some of the recipes I’ve used for catering events. There’s the most amazing cumin and tomato chutney I use all the time as a canapé on tiny little parmesan shortbreads – that’s really good. I’ve used some of the curries as well. The spices section was really good as I’m not quite brave enough with the amount of spices I use. All the really cheffy skills like making pâte sablée and soufflés, they have been really helpful. There were things I would never have taken the time to make myself like Chelsea buns. Some of the easier recipes like soda bread, I’d many many times before but there were enough new things. I did push myself.

Do you feel you benefited from the course?

“I feel more confident, and more competent. It sharpened my skills and validated what I already knew. Getting better at presentation has helped hugely. You can be a really good cook but you have to be able to make your food like pretty on the plate. It’s important to keep up-to-date. The grain sections was really really good; and the use of pulses. There’s a really lovely pearl barley salad with harissa yoghurt that’s definitely a contemporary dish.”

setthedate.co.uk

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