Put Rubbish In, Get Rubbish Out: Gareth Cartledge on Winning Care Chef of the Year at 21, Modified Food Presentation, and the Two Mentors Who Shaped Everything
Gareth Cartledge's mum arranged his work experience because he was, by his own admission, a lazy lad at school. That week at St. Monica Trust in Bristol at 15 turned into 18 years, a Care Chef of the Year title won at 21 as the youngest winner in the competition's history, and a career that now sees him Head of Hospitality at Port Haven Care Group. In this episode he answers Stella Stewart's question on modified food presentation, talks about what winning actually meant — which turned out not to be much at the time — and the two mentors who shaped everything.
Gareth Cartledge didn't arrange his own work experience. His mum did, placing him at St. Monica Trust in Bristol at 15, and he never really left — staying 18 years and learning from head chef Gary Brelsford, who gave him two quotes that still stick. The first: life's like a bowl of soup — put rubbish in, get rubbish out. The second, which took years to fully land: food and hydration is just as important as medication within care homes.
At catering college on day release, he was surrounded by peers heading for hotels and Michelin kitchens; he was already in care and already questioning why anyone would reach for packet sauces when you could make it fresh.
In 2008, entered as St. Monica Trust's representative after a failed attempt the year before, he won Care Chef of the Year at 21 — the youngest winner at the time. He went straight back to work afterwards. The significance, he says, didn't land until years later: through NACC seminars, through connections made, through conversations with people who understood what he was doing and why. What he values most now isn't his own win but the journeys he's supported others through — seeing chefs' careers elevate because he pushed them toward the competition. His second great mentor, Simon Lawrence, elevated him differently: opening the door from chef to regional manager and the whole next chapter of his career.
Answering Stella Stewart's question on modified food presentation, Gareth is practical and precise: pipe, quenelle, swipe, mould — make the food look like its form. Don't overcook, so colours stay vibrant when you take them down to the required IDDSI level. Twenty-five to thirty percent of appetite is visual, and a resident on a modified diet deserves to eat with their eyes as much as anyone else. His wider philosophy on menus is the same: residents first, always — ask them what they ate at home, how they cooked it, what would take them back. Chefs in care have to work front and back of house, because unlike a restaurant, the customer is back in five hours. Build the relationship first and everything else follows.
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