Food for Thought: How to cater for disabled guests and diners
On the same day that he was informed that he would compete in the 1980 World Karate Championships, Croft suffered a diving accident, paralysing him from the shoulders down. The book is an account of his life story, along with research and advice about the needs of disabled customers.
In addition, 30 of Britain’s top chefs including Gary Rhodes, Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay have contributed their own recipes to the book, with funds from each copy sold going to industry charity Hospitality Action and Regain – the trust for sports tetraplegics.
An excerpt from the book reads: “I by no means feel that my accident was one of the best things that ever happened to me, as I’m sure I would have seen a lot more of the world as a chef or doing karate.
Extremely grateful
“Regardless of the fact that I would enter my 30th year as a tetraplegic during the completion of this book, I feel extremely grateful for all the support I have received over the years. I have met some amazing people, and while my life, both as an able-bodies and disabled person, has been something of a roller-coaster ride, I feel privileged that many of my dark moments have been offset by the superb support I have received.
“The 2012 Olympics and Paralympics will be the biggest sporting occasions to happen in Great Britain for many years. It would be great if more establishments could think of the benefits of accommodating disabled people and make greater disability supervision.”
The book also provides the results of questionnaires regarding disabled access in restaurants.
Examples of disabled restaurant customers’ difficulties include:
- “A lot of places are not wheelchair friendly or have no accessible toilet.”
- "Position of different items on the table and food easily explained to someone with visual impairment would help.”
- “I avoid food that I can’t cut up independently.”
- “A choice of cutlery would make life easier.”
- “Large-print menus would help.”
- “Table heights and lips under tables can often cause problems.”
- “Time between courses is usually too quick.”
Recipes in the book include:
- A starter of Beetroot Salad with Walnuts, prepared by Mark Hix
- Ramsay’s Split Lentil and Spicy Sausage Stew as a main course
- A desert of Chocolate and Olive Oil Truffle with Red Pepper, Raspberry Jelly and Cornish Sea Salt, from Simon Hulstone, head chef at The Elephant restaurant.
- Full, three-course menus are also included from the likes of Cyrus Todiwala and Tom Aikens.
To order a copy of Food for Thought and for further information visit www.davidcroft.info
