In the kitchen
At the heart of Wiston Lodge, the kitchen staff; Mark, Ewan and Nikki, work to provide guests and staff with tasty nourishing food, sometimes cooking food for up to eighty people. There is an art to creating menus at Wiston, as individual dietary needs must be catered for. Whether that's vegetarian, gluten free, or a nut allergy, the kitchen staff go out of their way to ensure everyone has an enjoyable meal.
Staff Profile • Mark Tanner
Mark Tanner, head cook, has been working at Wiston Lodge for seven years: 'We've developed menus and recipes over the years of catering to different needs and tastes. I remember when I was young my main anxiety was what I was going to eat and when. We want to make people feel comfortable and satisfied with the food they receive. If a group goes out and has a great time on the high ropes, and comes back to a meal they don't like, its the meal they'll remember. You know with some of the youth groups that black-eyed beans won't go down well.'
Mark aims to mirror the challenges these youth groups face in the activities they do during the day with the food they eat over the course of their stay. He may start them out with something unthreatening like pizza and chips (made from fresh ingredients of course) at the beginning of the week, and work up to chicken tandoori by the end of their stay. 'Hopefully this is well within their comfort zone, but if someone can't cope we'll look after them.
Our ultimate aim is that people
are happy and fed.'
A tribute to the care and consideration that goes into preparing food for all needs came from one family last year, who because of their child's numerous food allergies had been unable to eat out for years. They were delighted and grateful to visit Wiston Lodge for the weekend and have their complex needs met without fuss.
There are plans for the kitchen to further integrate with groups in the future, with a healthy eating programme where participants spend time in the garden seeing where their food comes from, and time in the kitchen learning to make simple meals with the food they harvested from the garden. These plans are dependent on funds becoming available, but Mark is confident that with recent public interest in healthy eating, following programmes like Jamie's School Dinners, money will be made available for schemes like this.