Taste Cheshire, the private members organisation which promotes the independent food and drink businesses of Cheshire, have appointed Emma Shawcross as their new development chef.

Taste Cheshire CEO Stephen Wundke said he was delighted Emma had accepted the position. He said: “Emma has been at the centre of the food industry in Cheshire for quite some time.

“She has taught children how to cook through her work with the Academy of Culinary Arts, she has been the brains behind many of the celebrity chefs when they appear on stage and even helped with the production of the hit TV show, Yes Chef.

“Her pedigree of having learnt her trade at the Michelin starred Chester Grosvenor, give her an unrivalled knowledge of the industry at all levels and she is a really important addition to our team.”

Emma’s first task is to produce fortnightly recipes for the Tastecheshire.com website using local ingredients as their base and showing readers and viewers just how easy it is to prepare home cooked meals to restaurant standard.

She will also be on duty at the Royal Cheshire Show where Taste Cheshire will be offering free adult and children’s cooking classes.

Over the summer she will be visiting many of the Taste Cheshire members to help understand better, how Taste Cheshire can link local producers more with restaurants and pubs and, of course, the public.

She said: “I have been so impressed with the work that Taste Cheshire has done championing the Cheshire food and drink industry over the last six years and to now be a part of that team is a real privilege.

“I know that we can make a difference both in connecting producers with retailers and in communicating out the local message through the Taste Cheshire website and social media.

“We have over 50,000 people that we talk to through email and social media every month and we have almost 15,000 visitors a month to our website from outside the county looking for places to eat and drink so with the right message we really can elevate Cheshire to become the county of food and drink.

“To be a small part of that legacy is something very exciting.”

Taste Cheshire recently completed their 18th annual industry awards with more than 40,000 votes cast and the company have plans now to increase the awards in 2019 to include food and drink producers and their products and not just food retailers.

It is a big year for Taste Cheshire as they also just announced their tie up with the Cheshire Show to complete the Agri centre story of Farm to Fork, highlighting the Red Tractor brand and how the public can support UK farmers by buying British.