Our Outstanding Chefs Cinnamon Chefs receive recognition in national catering awards
Cinnamon Care Collection employs passionate chefs at its homes, ensuring that the food served is nutritious, varied and visually appealing, making every mealtime an enjoyable experience for residents.
Three of our chefs have recently been singled out as amongst the best care home chefs in the country, having been successful in highly prestigious national catering awards.
Eden Court’s Head Chef, Attila Volosinovszki was crowned Veggie Care Chef of the Year at the Vegetarian for Life (VfL) 2023 Awards for Excellence in Vegetarian and Vegan Care Catering.
Nigel Cooke, Head Chef at Eastcote Park was crowned Runner Up in the national Care Chef of the Year competition, organised by the National Association of Care Catering (NACC), having won the Midlands regional heat this summer.
In the same competition, Hartwood House’s Head Chef, Daniel Bree, who won the South West regional heats, was Highly Commended for his exceptional main course, which was chalk stream trout, turmeric with madras style sauce wilted greens baby leek and veg ruffage bhaji.
Culinary Creations
Attila Volosinovszki’s award-winning meal was mushroom custard with savoury crumble and beetroot salsa, mushroom wellington with new potatoes and seasonal vegetables and passion fruit and peach mousse, dipped in white chocolate.
Commenting on his win, he said, “I was so surprised to win as there are so many incredible vegetarian chefs out there. I think the judges were impressed because my menu took into account cost and seasonality and also demonstrated originality with my own vegetarian version of a traditional beef main course. Residents at Eden Court, whether they are vegetarian or not, have really enjoyed these dishes – especially the dessert! Winning this award has spurred me on to keep creating new vegetarian meals which we can add to our menu.”
Nigel Cooke’s culinary creation for the national Care Chef of the Year competition was marmite hake, served with spiced coconut sauce, potato scales, kale, pickled cucumber, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower and pecans. His dessert was beetroot and blueberry Bakewell, served with ginger crème fraiche.
Nigel said, “I chose my menu because of the big flavours, high nutritional content and the fact that some of the ingredients were grown by our residents in Eastcote Park’s garden. The competition was so tough with incredible chefs from across the country. I was thrilled to be named Runner-Up. I have now won the regional finals twice and this is the furthest I’ve come in the competition. I hope to enter it again next year and put my culinary skills to the test again!”
Daniel Bree added, “This was a great opportunity to get through to the finals of the national competition and showcase care home food. I chose to cook trout because it is very sustainable and local, and I made the bhaji with all the vegetable peelings, making it more sustainable and turning food that would normally be wasted into something very tasty.
“It was great to be singled out for my main course because I thought outside the box and created a dish that residents love. I always like to try new flavours as this helps with variation on the menus in the home. This particular dish had so many nutritional benefits using aromatic spices. The judges commented on how all the flavours worked well together and they particularly enjoyed the bhaji.”
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