The Winner of the Creed IDDSI Care Chef competition is unveiled

Country Court has announced that its catering operations support manager, Ivon Peplow, has won the Creed IDDSI Care Chef of the Year competition, which is designed to highlight the skill and innovation involved in creating high-quality dishes for care home residents requiring specialist diets. The International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) Framework is an international set of descriptors describing texture-modified foods and thickened liquids for people with eating, drinking and swallowing problems covering all ages, in all care settings, and for all cultures.

Commenting on his win, Ivon says: "This is a passion for me. I believe that all residents, no matter what they are having to deal with physically or mentally, are treated and given the same dignity and respect for all food. The judges were industry experts in the field of IDDSI, so it was a great honour to receive this award. We had to include our recipe, method, costing, and nutritional aspect, and consider presentation, colours and flavours while also making sure that the meal is of the correct texture  for a Level 4 meal."

The four competition finalists were asked to produce an IDDSI Level 4 main course suitable for residents in a care home. Level 4 is for extremely thick or pureed foods, with the use of thickened liquids and texture-modified food.

Ivon had two hours to produce his dish of Italian chicken with smoked bacon, served with roasted garlic cannellini beans with white wine, olive oil roasted baby plum red and yellow tomatoes and roasted courgettes, with basil dressing.

Judging the competition were Jamie Clews from Robocoupe, Rob Owen, executive development chef for Creed Foodservice and Preston Walker, director at Oak House Kitchen. Walker is an industry expert on IDDSI who is on the IDDSI UK panel and is also a leading light and innovator for IDDSI UK.

“We are very proud of Ivon’s achievement” says Anwar Kajee, director of hospitality at Country Court. “This is a very skilled but often overlooked area of catering, and Ivon has been a great advocate for IDDSI food at Country Court. We are delighted that he has received some well-deserved recognition for his passion for creating high-quality inclusive dishes for residents.”

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