Winning the inaugural Noel Crawford Memorial Chef Scholarship is the icing on the cake for student chef John Bland.

Formerly in a desk job, the 32-year-old says he’s the happiest he’s ever been studying for his Diploma in Professional Chef Practice at EIT. He and wife Nicola moved from the UK six years ago and, having previously holidayed in Hawke’s Bay, the couple chose to settle in Clive with their family of four.

The scholarship, which covers more than $6000 in fees, celebrates the contribution the late Hawke’s Bay chef Noel Crawford made to the New Zealand food industry.

Dubbed ‘the Saucerer’, Noel founded the Aromatics gourmet food brand. He was a regular at the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Market and his sauces and condiments are sold throughout the country.

In August, friends and colleagues, including Raymond van Rijk of Raymond’s BBQ Gourmet and Sam Orton of Orton Catering, organised a four-course dinner to celebrate his passion for big flavours and significant contribution to the food industry.

Well-known chefs taking part included David Griffiths of Mr D’s, Pierre Vuilleumier of Pierre Sur La Quay fame, Terry Lowe from Black Barn and EIT tutor and Cape Kidnappers’ pastry chef Korey Field. EIT students worked front of house and also helped EIT tutor chefs prepare dishes.

The organisers hope the fundraising event, which kickstarted the scholarship, will become an annual event on the Hawke’s Bay calendar.

John says it’s unbelievable that he is the scholarship’s first winner.

“It was fantastic of them to do that with EIT and to support chefs coming through. It’s such a good thing to do.  Hopefully I’ll do Noel proud and EIT as well.”

Working at the Hawke’s Bay Racing Centre for the summer season, John says that while the food industry means putting in long hours, it gives him great job satisfaction.

His former career was in business management, mainly in the leisure and tourism industries. For the past four years, he worked as a freelancer, helping small businesses with staff training, customer service, marketing and other issues.

However, he wanted to do something for himself and, with his father and uncle both chefs, he had the grounding in cooking if not the skill set.

“I had been contemplating chef training for two years and got the EIT prospectus three or four times. I spoke to Nicola about it and thought I will do it one day.”

Then, after a particularly gruelling day in the office, he came on campus, toured the hospitality block’s training kitchen and “fell in love with the place”.

When he completes his study programme at the end of 2015, John intends remaining in Hawke’s Bay and hopes to hone his cooking skills working for talented local chefs.

“I’d love to be a head chef at a good winery or one of the better restaurants but I don’t want to do that until I’ve paid my dues and done the hard graft.”

John says chef training has been one of the best decisions he’s ever made.

“The household finances haven’t been the same, but my wife can tell how happy I am doing something that I love.”