A growing demand from established chefs at the moment is searching for ways to get that Eureka moment and culinary frisson of excitement without taking too much time away from their businesses.

John Feeney, culinary director for Europe for Griffith Laboratories and one of the food development representatives in the Craft Guild, thinks he’s found the answer. He has devised his own programme of mini forums to bring chefs together in small groups without impacting on their kitchen.

Each forum looks at a specific subject and chefs across the industry from Michelin starred restaurants to gastro pubs and development chefs are invited to them.

Feeney says the idea came about by accident last year following an invitation he extended to top Midlands chef Sat Bains and his chefs to come to his development kitchen at Griffith’s in Somercotes, Derbyshire.

“The idea was that these were chefs who didn’t have much time but still wanted to extend their knowledge. We invited Sat and his chef John Freeman over here and it was great. It made sense to do it and we decided to extend it to other chefs.” Since then there have been a number of these mini forums taking place in the UK and abroad, and he says he hopes to organise two or three a year, with at least one foreign forum a year.

The trips usually happen on Sundays and Mondays when a lot of restaurants are closed. One exception was a seminar about creative thinking in Barcelona in October, which meant leaving on Sunday and coming back Tuesday or Wednesday.

“It’s about collaboration with everyone,” says Feeney. “It’s for chefs and targeted at them. There are no customers involved at all because we want to keep ownership of it. The outcome is we learn and network. It also gives chefs a chance to see how their teams back home manage without them.”

He admits he has been inspired by initiatives such as the Flemish Primitives, a culinary brainstorming session that has been described as “the playground of top chefs”, where they get the chance to show their wackier and more creative side.

Feeney’s programme began with 10 chefs and has risen to as many as 37, but sometimes there has to be a limit, he says.

Subjects covered so far include opportunities with seaweed demonstrated by Flavours of Spain directors Ana Gomez and Teresa Holmes, barbecue techniques and sous vide. In the latter session Clifton Food Range’s water baths were put through their paces benefiting chefs such as Bains and Olly Rouse, head chef at Coworth Park. Other chefs that have dipped into these forums include: Daniel Clifford, Simon Rogan, Simon Shaw, Simon Hulstone and Jason Atherton to name a few.

Pushing boundaries isn’t new but while there are many opportunities for young chefs, there isn’t a lot for senior chefs to keep them interested, says Feeney. “There is lots of training available for youngsters entering the profession, but very little available for more established chefs. The forums are a great way to share learning.”

He says companies with interesting equipment or ingredients are approached to see if they and the chefs can work together to get a deeper understanding of how they can be used. But it’s also not just about cooking; the sensory side is a big part of it too.

At the umami chef forum in the summer in Geneva, in association with Firmenich, one of the world’s leading flavour houses, the science behind flavours and tastes was revealed. For example chefs were shown how to break down a food ingredient like a basil leaf and then put it back together so it seemed just like fresh basil, says Feeney.

The chefs were shown how flavour tastes were evolving with consumers and more importantly which ones were expected to be a big hit. Firmenich’s flavourist described how flavours were created and how molecules of flavours interacted with each other. Pineapple and cheese for example have identical molecules forming their characteristic flavours; the molecules are just combined in a different way. This explained scientifically why these diverse flavours work naturally together.

The Affirmative Nosespace analyser, a machine developed in partnership with Nottingham University, showed chefs how volatile flavours are released into our breathing stream, and when food is eaten it could measure this flow of flavours. This enabled them to understand which flavours we are more sensitive to when eating food.

“It’s all about being touchy feely – not just power points,” says Feeney, adding that the Barcelona seminar involved getting creative with one of El Bulli’s experts, Luki Huber. Huber has been behind some of the techniques used by Ferran Adría and his chefs. For this session chefs teamed with one of Huber’s key partners Lekue, a specialist in the design and production of cooking utensils made from silicone.

Prior to the forum, every chef is sent homework to do, says Feeney, adding that they are also ice breakers. “They know it’s coming and they get excited about it,” he says. Afterwards information is collected, collated and given to the chefs to keep and share with their team. For the Barcelona forum, the chefs were each sent a utensil and asked to look at it and identify potential new needs and perhaps improvements. In this Foodie heaven instance, they came up with more than 400 ideas.

Feeney says he does a “recce” before each forum but says every time he does this he feels he has to raise the bar. Any costs are for raw materials and those attending bear their own travel and hotel expenses but a list of places to stay and maps, for instance, are provided. One for the future is Grasse in the south of France where fragrances are produced.

But Feeney adds: “It’s about chefs doing it for themselves.”