Chef Gary Maclean

National Chef of Scotland

Gary Maclean, National Chef of Scotland, will be performing three live complimentary cooking demonstrations in the culinary tent at the 2023 Scottish Festival & Highland Games.

Chicago Scots appreciates its partnership with Gary Maclean, who choose the menu for the 2022 St. Andrew’s Day Gala – Feast of the Haggis. In addition, Gary is overseeing training for the culinary staff at Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care.

Biography

Born in Glasgow, multi-award winning chef Gary Maclean has been at the heart of the Scottish hospitality industry for 35 years, working up and down the country opening and developing over 80 venues along the way.

Gary has the honour of being Scotland’s National Chef awarded to him by the Scottish Government, a world first for a country to select a National Chef. In this voluntary role Gary supports the Scottish Government in food health, education and promotion of Scotland’s amazing produce around the world.

His current role as Executive Chef at City of Glasgow College is what really drives his passion for mentoring other young chefs and creative cooking.

His work in education has been widely recognised by winning many awards including Craft Guild of Chefs Chef lecturer of the Year 2015 and CiS Excellence awards Hospitality Educator of the Year 2017, as well as winning four international and fourteen national college culinary competitions as coach of the College culinary team. He is also a Fellow of the Master Chefs of Great Britain and the International Institute of Hospitality Management. Gary was inducted into the Scotland Colleges Hall of Fame in 2019 and in 2021 was awarded the Mark Twain award by the St Andrews Society of New York for his work in Scottish and American relations.

In December 2016 he was crowned BBC MasterChef: The Professionals Champion, after taking on 47 other professional chefs in the pursuit of gastronomic glory. He battled through seven weeks of fierce competition on our TV screens and extra-ordinary cooking in the culinary challenges. There was only one king of the kitchen and he touched the hearts and passions of the UK TV audience.

Since winning Gary has embarked on a whole host of activities, from public appearances all over the UK and the world attending events in the promotion of Scottish Food Education and Culture, including , Miami, New York, Los Angeles, New England, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Colombia, Cuba and Canada. Gary has also spends a lot of time working in the media being a regular on TV, radio and printed press and embarked on presenting on BBC Landward and has his own BBC show , Corner Shop Cook Off.

Gary has written Kitchen Essentials the Joy of Home Cooking a collection of recipes for the modern family, Gary also owns a sustainable Scottish seafood restaurant in the heart of Edinburgh called Creel Caught.

During the pandemic, Gary felt it was important to reach out and support organizations throughout the UK, USA and Asia, offering weekly live cookery demonstrations, conducting classes for colleges in Miami, New York India and UK.