Monkey business as friends hunt top banana in desserts

The competition, organised by the curiously-named Monkey Food, sees chefs from six East Yorkshire eateries vying for votes from discerning diners.

The women behind Monkey Food are Linda Duncan and Valerie Pearson. Both big foodies, one of their many joys in life is to eat in great restaurants.

The Monkey Food concept started when they were having lunch at a local Beverley eatery and were talking to the chef about locally-sourced produce.

"He admitted that there were some products that he couldn't get locally," says Linda, who promptly called her contacts and introduced the right people to him.

"We were also talking about how some food places make meals by putting them in the microwave and how most diners are unaware how their food has been heated for them, and he said that any monkey can do that.

"Hence the inspiration for Monkey Food. Our mission is to highlight to people the wealth of good food in the county that the average person can afford if they only know where to look."

The friends came up with the idea of holding events at competing establishments.

The host venue would cook the starters and main course and the six chefs would battle it out to provide the best desserts.

The 40 guests are given a scorecard and mark the dessert from 0 to 10 in different categories, without knowing which chef has created which dish.

"It is all very competitive, but there is a also a real feeling of camaraderie with all the chefs helping each other out," says Linda, who has recently made a major lifestyle choice and resigned from Humberside Police.

During the last five years of her service Linda worked from County Hall in Beverley on community initiatives aimed at reducing crime and disorder throughout Hull and the East Riding.

Linda now has a successful business providing Home Information Packs and offering advice on energy efficiency at www.ydea.info. Her commitment to the green agenda is shown by the fact that for each property visited she will try to send a local assessor, in order to reduce harmful carbon emissions by cutting the distance travelled.

Valerie is Australian and has been working and eating in the area for the last seven years.

She says she is obsessed about food being prepared with real ingredients by people who are passionate about food.

Valerie is a masseuse, specialising in a style called Hawaiian Kahuna, which she has been practising for the last 10 years and has a business called Cultural Bodywork, with the website www.culturalbodywork.com.

The establishments which take part in the Monkey Food events are Patisserie in Beverley, The Old Mill, Hotel & Restaurant, Driffield, KP Club in Pocklington, Inspiration Private Dining, Beverley, Beverley Tickton Grange Hotel, and Rudstone Walk, South Cave, Brough.

The next Monkey Food event takes place on February 8 at the KP Club when guests will be entertained by fiery flamenco troupe The Dante Dames.