Jack Stein - Cornwall

Jack Stein is to represent Cornwall in 2012 Celtic Cook Off in West Cork

This year’s 2012 Cornish representative Jack Stein, son of restaurateur, chef and TV presenter Rick Stein; said on accepting the invitation to come and cook for Cornwall, said: “Thanks for the invite I am really excited and pleased to represent my home of Cornwall. I will have to ask Roy for some tips, he was my first head chef!”

Jack was born in Cornwall and began his career in the hospitality industry as a kitchen porter during school holidays in The Seafood Restaurant kitchen. At 16 he moved to front of house where he remained throughout his education.

Upon completed a BSc in Psychology and an MA in Ancient History at Cardiff University, he returned to The Seafood Restaurant as commis chef and after two years he took up the position of sous chef at Rick Stein’s Café where he remained for another year.

Following this, Jack went on to Paris to stage at La Régalade, which ignited a passion for travel and a period of stage work all over the world. Jack travelled to Australia for an extended stay at Tetsuya’s in Sydney, before exploring the Far East and Japan.

Upon returning to Padstow he re-entered The Seafood Restaurant and progressed to sous chef before moving on to a tournant role across the whole company. He is currently the head of development for the company, leading the installation and introduction of a development kitchen for the business, where new recipes and ingredients will be tested.

Jack will be competing against Ian Bennett for Wales as well as Tony Singh from Scotland, Butch Buttery from The Isle of Man, Stephane Delourme from Brittany and Gary O'Hanlon from Ireland.

Roy Brett will be among the judges for the 2012 Celtic Cook Off and will be joined by Tim Anderson, winner of MasterChef 2011 and who is Guest of Honour for the Celtic Cook Off this year. Tim will also be taking part in the events involving chefs and food producers arranged as part of the whole Celtic Cook Off experience.