Together with Mayor’s Fund for London, we’re proud to launch the Jack Petchey Taste the Future Challenge, powered by the Mayor’s Fund for London. A new, citywide cookery competition giving 14–25-year-olds the chance to grow their confidence, creativity, and life skills through the power of food.

Through the Bright Futures: The Jack Petchey Survey of Young People’s Ambitions (2024), we found that cooking was the activity young people were most interested in participating in. From Mayor’s Fund’s 2024 insights survey, community leaders across the capital told them that cooking is one of the top three skills young people need to support their personal development.

Built directly from that community feedback, the programme reflects our belief that food equity, opportunity, and joy should go hand in hand. It’s about creating meaningful experiences that help young Londoners thrive, both in and beyond the kitchen.

We know that 13 weeks away from school each year can leave young people facing barriers to food and opportunity. Taste the Future helps bridge those gaps supporting trusted community hubs to deliver fun, engaging experiences that keep young Londoners learning, connecting, and growing.

What is the Jack Petchey Taste the Future Challenge?

Taste the Future is a celebration of culture, creativity, and community. Through hands-on learning, young people build teamwork, confidence, and essential life skills. Whilst at the same time, the Challenge helps them to gain culinary and nutritional knowledge to make healthier choices.

The Taste the Future Challenge takes place across three school-holiday stages, hosted by Mayor’s Fund for London’s (MFFL) network of community hubs and partners across London. From local tastings in team heats to a professional kitchen-based semi-final and a high-energy grand finale, young people will have the chance to showcase their talent and represent their community on a citywide stage.

The winning dish will be featured in MFFL’s 2026 Take & Make recipe kit, distributed to families across London, with 50 kits gifted back to their community organisation. Winners will also receive a professional cooking masterclass, whilst finalists will receive other food-related prizes. Each hub taking part has been funded to buy cooking equipment to help them in the challenge, but also to keep and use during their day-to-day provision, further ensuring the Challenge’s impact goes beyond just the competition.

The summer heats

The first round of the Challenge took place over the summer holidays, with community kitchens across London coming alive.

Nine outstanding teams prepared flavour-packed dishes that celebrated culture, teamwork, and the joy of cooking. Judges were impressed by the confidence, imagination, and energy on display. Across all heats, the young chefs shone with creativity and confidence. From mastering complex techniques to sharing the stories behind their dishes, each team demonstrated how food can bring people together and celebrate identity.

What the young people told us:

“I enjoyed cooking with different people and making food that is different from my culture with them. I learned to be more resilient and confident at cooking with people.”

“If you work as a team and believe in yourself, anything is possible.”

“I enjoyed working with my team and creating dishes for the judges to taste and also learnt a new dish I should try and make at home.”

The top-scoring teams will now progress to the Semi-Finals in October half-term, where they’ll take on a new challenge and cook head-to-head in a professional kitchen for a place in the Grand Final.

The partnership

Together with the Mayor’s Fund for London, we’re supporting young Londoners to build skills, confidence, and connections.

Speaking about the partnership and new programme, Gemma Guma, CEO of the Foundation, said: “We’re incredibly proud to be partnering with Mayor’s Fund for London to deliver our new cooking competition. In our 2024 youth survey young people highlighted that only a quarter of their schools or colleges offered cooking as an extra-curricular activity, despite them having a strong hunger to learn practical skills in the subject. Cooking is a valuable life skill that builds confidence, encourages creativity, and supports healthier living. We’re excited to help young people feed their appetite for learning and personal growth, in the kitchen and beyond.”

Belle Fitzroy, Taste the Future programme lead at MFL, said: “We’re so excited to launch the Jack Petchey Taste the Future Challenge, a celebration of creativity, culture, and community through food. This programme was shaped by what we heard from our network of community organisations, who told us that cooking is one of the top skills young people need to support their personal development. Thanks very much the Jack Petchey Foundation for funding the Challenge. Together we’re helping young Londoners gain confidence, learn new skills, and build brighter futures, starting in the kitchen and reaching far beyond it.”

Learn more about Taste the Future here.

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