Antonio Carluccio, the chef and restaurateur considered by many to be the godfather of Italian gastronomy in the UK, established the Foundation in his name to provide resources and development opportunities to aspiring chefs and hospitality professionals. Forming part of the university’s ambitious widening access and participation agenda, the Antonio Carluccio Outreach Programme will involve university lecturers, students and representatives of the local hospitality industry engaging with school leavers through a series of workshops and field-trips that highlight the many exciting career opportunities available in this sector.
The launch of the Antonio Carluccio Outreach programme comes as Ulster University has been ranked first in the UK for Hospitality, Leisure, Recreation and Tourism (Complete University Guide 2021).
For Professor Una McMahon-Beattie, Head of Ulster University’s Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, this new partnership will support a key priority:
“There is clearly an alignment of values between the university and the Antonio Carluccio Foundation. The university has a strong sense of civic purpose, which is grounded in helping to advance society in Northern Ireland. We are determined to encourage participation in higher education for those who are most able, but least likely, to join university courses.
"We also believe that hospitality and culinary arts management provide the perfect platform for those who are creative, people-oriented and have an entrepreneurial spirit.”
Sabine Stevenson, Founding Trustee, The Antonio Carluccio Foundation, said:
“In Antonio’s eyes everybody could cook good food. It was a language understood by people everywhere in the world. It was an ‘expression of love‘, a way to make people happy and he believed in his philosophy of ‘mof mof‘ namely, minimum of fuss, maximum of flavour. Antonio established his foundation with the hope and desire to support those with an interest in food and nutrition. Sharing his cooking skills was at his heart and he would have been enormously proud to support Ulster University’s Hospitality and Culinary Arts Management Programme in his name.”
For more information on the Antonio Carluccio Foundation at Ulster University, contact Dr Laura Wells by email to l.wells@ulster.ac.uk