A LEADING chef has been helping students handle the heat of the kitchen by promoting the work of a mental health charity set up to support 72 million hospitality workers worldwide.
David Garlinge, a former chef to David and Victoria Beckham and Gordon Ramsay, who has worked around the globe, inspired catering students at Darlington College.
An ambassador for the Burnt Chef Project, he explored his own mental health after a career in the industry including in restaurants that saw his working day last up to 21 hours.
“I remember one day at work when one of my Italian chefs threw around 120 canapés in the bin instead of putting them in the fridge as he hadn’t understood me properly,” he recalled.
“I had to make another batch very quickly, then my fryer broke so I got a big pan of oil and put them in there – then just stared at them as they started to burn. Another chef shouted to take them out and I was about to do that with my hands when he grabbed my arms. I was broken mentally, burnt out and unable to think. I had to get myself together and go back the next day when I was fine as I dealt with it.”
He revealed he had been working from 7am to 2am, then had to be back at work at 7am and was having to catch three buses to get to the restaurant.
The Burnt Chef project was founded by Kris Hall for those people, like himself working in the hospitality trade, who struggled in silence.
“I became involved because I developed mental health issues,” David said. “It’s not a bad thing to suffer and it’s not a bad thing to talk about it. We all have mental health, it’s your state of being and everyone has good days and bad.”
The level 1-3 students heard that 84 per cent of hospitality workers experienced mental health issues and almost half felt uncomfortable talking about them.
The Burnt Chef Project provides a 24 hour text/phone helpline as well as health and wellbeing modules. It has trained 200 peer support ambassadors and so far talked to 3,700 students in the UK about mental health awareness and stress reduction.
South Shields-born David trained at a North East catering college before joining the Royal Navy where his career was cut short after just 12 weeks when a cannon crushed his knee.
“After that I met my partner and she fell pregnant very quickly, we were just 18, and I had to face up to the responsibilities of work,” he recalled. “I ended up working in a burger van on a building site but soon realised that would not make my family proud.
“With a second child on the way I moved to London, on my own, and got a job working for Gordon Ramsay in Mayfair. If you worked hard Gordon was absolutely fantastic. He then sent me to ‘Beckingham Palace’, which was a lot of fun looking after the kids – I even got a hug from Baby Spice.”
David returned to the North East to work at Rockliffe Hall and the Michelin star Raby Hunt. He then started working with celebrated Michelin star chef Jason Atherton and getting involved in new site openings around the world before launching his own restaurant in Darlington before COVID19.
He now provides private dining services for clients around the world including Switzerland and the Saudi Arabian Royal family and has worked on elaborate events for Meta at the Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity, with glow in the dark food and dishes that used augmented reality to blend creative technology into the dining experience.
“Stress is normal and healthy,” said David who lives in constant pain with arthritis. “As cavemen it used to keep us alive with fight or flight. But high levels of stress are bad if you don’t recognise the signs and address the issues to get the balance right. You have to find coping mechanisms, a safe place, even just finding a moment to take a deep breath. And when you help yourself you can help others.
“It makes me feel good to give something back to the charity I have leaned on for so many years.”
The college will stage a fundraising event for the charity at 6.30pm and 7pm on Wednesday May 21, next year. Tickets are £35 per person.
For mental health help text burntchef to 85258.
For more information on opportunities at Darlington College visit www.darlington.ac.uk.