30.08.2023
I joined the team at Ashford Place to work alongside my friend Marcus in the kitchen as the summer chefs. We, university students on summer break, signed up with very little experience beyond a few random catering and restaurant jobs in the past, but I like to think we rose to the challenge. Of course, I made this challenge harder with the trips I had booked during the job, meaning we had to bring in an extra chef to take over for me, our mutual friend George. Between us, the weeks seem to have flown by, with George and I coming in and out while Marcus solidly came in day after day to cook for the lovely crowd that gathers at Ashford Place.
The food itself was an interesting challenge to face; the ingredients of course coming via donations from companies that would otherwise go to waste and redistributed to Ashford Place by Fareshare, Felix Project and City Harvest. This itself was shocking to me; the sheer amount of food which we received at multiple points during the week was overwhelming at first. Some of it we had to discard as it was unsafe for consumption, but overall I was amazed simply by how much food would have gone to waste without the kitchen at Ashford Place. I was also surprised at the number of brands that would be sent to us, from M&S and Gails to a huge amount of Amazon Fresh produce. Not knowing what donations we would be cooking with made it an interesting method of meal planning, and the incoming groceries did undeniably make the experience of cooking and planning our meals far more interesting. Each day we would choose from the glorious mix of ingredients to create a soup, a main course and dessert to serve to our guests.
Overall, it was the people that made Ashford Place an amazing place to work, from the extremely friendly staff who would consistently check in to see our progress, and reassure us in times of stress, to the amazing regulars who came in day after day to eat our food, each of whom were so kind and friendly and welcoming. They are always encouraging in their support of the meals which we tried our best to make appetizing. This Summer, spent cooking at Ashford Place has been a wonderful and enriching experience for Marcus, George and I, and we hope to return one day.