"The Gumbooted Chef"

Come fireside with 'The Gumbooted Chef' and our community of farmers, butchers, bakers, growers, cheese makers.

Jason Goldingay, former Chef of Ten Minutes By Tractor, has worked with food for almost two decades. His romance with food began after spending a large amount of his youth in the deli run by his mother and grandmother; entranced by the exotic smells of hanging meat, mould coated cheeses and fragrant olive oils not normally associated with the deep fried Mars Bar culture of Glasgow's suburbs.

While finishing school he applied his spare time to learning the intricacies of potted hock and square sausage in a Deniston butcher's shop run by a family friend. In the mid 80s Jason started his formal training as a chef and on completion moved to London to work in the fine dining restaurants of the west end.

While gaining vital experience in London, Jason would take long trips to the continent travelling through the northern reaches of Europe and down through France and Spain learning about local produce and gleaming some insight into each regions food heritage.

In '95 Jason immigrated to Australia and started working in the Melbourne restaurant scene where he soon fell in love with the quality and variety of produce available. Having moved to the Mornington Peninsula to follow his passion for food and desire to be closer to be the producers of the regions delicacies and the artisans who work with them. Jason has left the fold at Ten Minutes by Tractor to started Harvest to Hearth Cagailt Chef Guided Events and Tours.

Quality, fun & artisanry

Harvest to Hearth Cagailt is about awareness, food, warmth, fun, friends, learning, sharing, culture, tradition, old ways and new ways. 'Cagailt' (pronounced keg-eelch) means "hearth" in Gaelic - it's the heart of the home, the centre of family life.

Harvest to Hearth Cagailt reawakens the dormant values of a time past when people were actively involved, together, in both supply and preparation of the family meal, from harvest to the hearth.

Harvest to Hearth Cagailt is about rekindling the pleasure and joy gained through the communal food experience "a meal shared is a meal twice enjoyed".

By acknowledging that we are all active participants in the food cycle, Harvest to Hearth Cagailt wishes to encourage everyone to make considered choices and protect food as a cultural heritage.

We value real sourcing: building friendships with "the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker" and the active consumer looking for whole foods. We believe that such relationships encourage quality and wellbeing in both product and community.

We wish to explore and safeguard our biodiversity. We favour sustainability with efficiency and celebrate the artisan and their methods. Rekindling, reinvigorating and reigniting a passion which takes us from harvest to hearth.