Masterchef winner Gary Maclean appointed Scotland's first-ever National Chef

Last year's winner of the BBC Two programme MasterChef: The Professionals Gary Maclean has been appointed Scotland's first National Chef.

Maclean, who is a senior chef lecturer at the City of Glasgow College, said that the role had been "spoken about in Scotland for a couple of years" and he was first approached in February. He received an official appointment from the Scottish Government yesterday.

Speaking to The Caterer, he said: "My main responsibility is to promote the wonderful produce we have in Scotland. A lot of people are doing that anyway but I'm looking forward to using the voice of National Chef to get that message out."

Maclean said he hopes to make people aware of the "extremes farmers go to make sure they are doing the best for the environment and the best for their product." Especially head chefs who he wants to encourage their teams to go out into the fields and start understanding the products to reduce food waste.

He added: "Farmers do so much that people don't know about and I want to get that message out. As a chef I've always been interested in using local food and I love going out to meet the farmers and the fishers. When you find out the backstory on your food and you have the ingredient in front of you, you treat it completely differently and you get a real understanding of how precious that product is."

As part of the role, which has been specially developed this year, Maclean will also demonstrate recipes on social media and at national events.

Since winning Masterchef: The Professionals he has been using his heightened platform to raise money for charity; take part in campaigns raising awareness for waste reduction and obesity; and mentor culinary teams around the world taking part in competitions.

"I've helped raise £100,000 for charity which is something I never thought I'd do for organisations such as the Prince's Trust and cancer awareness. I also captained the college team in America this summer competing in the Atlantic Cup in Indianapolis and Maryland which we won! In January I'm going to India for the Young Chef Olympiad. I think I've maxed the platform that MasterChef has given me."

Although solving problems such as the chef shortage won't be part of Maclean's role, he expressed concern that times will get harder for the industry if the UK loses the ability to hire European staff.

"It must be tough for the people across Europe deciding where they are going to go to work. Someone living in Poland is probably going to go to France and Germany instead of coming here because there's so much uncertainty.

"Scotland opens its arms to the whole of Europe and the reality is that Scotland, and everywhere is catering, needs foreign staff. A lot of our industries really rely on it. It is going to be scary times, I don't know what the plan is, I don't think anyone believes its actually going to happen, but I'm certain that the ball is rolling."

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