13th Apr 2010 - 00:00
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Nick Vadis, former Craft Guild chairman and executive chef of Compass Group UK & Ireland, has been presented with an Honorary Professorship from the London School of Hospitality & Tourism, Thames Valley University.
The award is in recognition of his contribution to the catering and hospitality industry and in particular his continued commitment to the development of his younger peers. He now joins the ranks of 22 of the world's most recognised chefs including Raymond Blanc, Michel Roux Senior, Gary Rhodes and Cyrus Todiwala. Vadis, who has been executive chef at Compass for three years, was previously executive chef at British Airways where he played a pivotal role in the development of pre-flight dining. Prior to that, he spent more than 25 years in the Royal Navy. Throughout his career, he has been heavily involved in the training of chefs, from his teaching role with the Tri-Service School of Craft Training in Aldershot where he trained new recruits in culinary arts, to his work on Compass Group's Junior Chefs' Academy for enthusiastic secondary school students looking to get a taste for cooking. Vadis says: "It is a great honour to receive an Honorary Professorship from an institution which is so highly regarded by the catering and hospitality industry as TVU. I feel immensely lucky; I love cooking and have been fortunate enough to dedicate my whole working life to food and to be recognised for this, and to be grouped with such iconic chefs, is humbling."