HRC Student Wins International Award for Sustainable Culinary Innovation

A classroom lesson became an award-winning idea for Raya Wouters, a first-semester student in the Culinary Arts programme at HRC Culinary Academy.

Inspired by her Sustainability course, Raya decided to enter the Frugal Gastronomes competition, part of the international Trail of the Ethnic and Local Cuisine in the Danube Region project. The competition challenged participants to develop creative culinary concepts that combine innovation, resourcefulness, and sustainability.

Her entry, titled “Spring Has Sprung”, impressed the international jury and earned first place.

At first glance, the dish appears deceptively simple: roasted celeriac custard cream infused with elderflower and black cumin, crispy buckwheat, salted ramsons oil, and wild strawberry vinegar. Behind these four elements, however, lies a carefully developed concept that rethinks how ingredients are sourced, valued, and used.

Rather than focusing on luxury products, Raya built her dish around ingredients and techniques deeply rooted in Bulgarian food culture. The concept draws inspiration from traditions such as foraging, yogurt-making, and fruit preservation, while presenting them in a contemporary way. Every ingredient is Bulgarian and seasonal, reflecting the transition from spring to summer.

What truly distinguished the project was its commitment to sustainability.

The custard is made using yogurt whey, a by-product that is often discarded during cheese and strained yogurt production. Instead of becoming waste, the whey forms the foundation of the dish, adding acidity and depth of flavour. Imperfect wild strawberries are transformed into vinegar, extending their shelf life and creating a valuable ingredient from produce that might otherwise be thrown away. Elderflowers and ramsons are foraged locally, reducing transportation and packaging, while buckwheat was chosen for its low environmental impact and ability to grow in poor soil with minimal water.

For Raya, sustainability was not an additional feature of the dish – it was the starting point.

The concept also demonstrated a broader vision. Rather than creating a recipe tied to a single location, she designed a model that could be adapted across different regions while maintaining the same principles. The structure of the dish – a root vegetable custard, a crispy grain, a wild herb oil, and a fruit-based vinegar – can be recreated using local ingredients anywhere. In Serbia, celeriac could become parsnip and wild strawberries could become sour cherries. In Romania, carrots and plum vinegar could take their place. The method remains the same, while local identity is preserved.

This combination of creativity, practicality, and sustainability resonated strongly with the jury, who praised both the environmental thinking behind the concept and its potential application in restaurant operations and franchising models.

Raya’s success demonstrates how culinary education can inspire students to think beyond recipes and engage with larger challenges facing the hospitality industry today. Her project shows that sustainability does not require compromise and that innovative gastronomy can emerge from ingredients and resources that are often overlooked.

As a first-semester student, Raya has already shown the kind of curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking that define the next generation of culinary professionals. We are proud of her achievement and delighted to see her work recognised on an international stage.