In conversation with Xanthe Gladstone
“I’ve always been super interested in food and cooking…and eating”, Xanthe laughs, “and I knew I wanted to work in food but I didn’t really have the faith in myself that I could make it my own career”. Fast forward a year and Xanthe Gladstone has done just that. After packing in her job in drinks marketing in January 2019, Xanthe left the bright city lights behind her and moved back home to rural Scotland.
Since then, she’s completed a six week sustainable food course at the prestigious Ballymalloe and taken on the role of Director of Food & Food Sustainability at The Good Life Experience, which her parents have been running since 2014. When she’s not splitting her time between her family’s homes in the Highlands and North Wales, working on their businesses, Xanthe is busy planning her own events. In March, she will be hosting her first farmers’ market in the Walled Garden at Hawarden, to showcase local businesses who share her values of producing and purchasing proper food. The garden is also home to Xanthe’s veg patch and she’s very excited to start planting come spring, along with the arrival of her chickens. The next event is a micro-festival and will include food workshops, foraging walks, food demos and big outdoor feasts. On top of this, Xanthe regularly returns to London to host the supper clubs that she runs with boyfriend, Hugo.
There are a lot of plates spinning, she agrees, confessing “every living, breathing moment is thinking about work…but I feel so lucky, I have incredibly supportive parents and this is really important to me”. Xanthe’s enthusiasm is contagious, her self-confessed obsession with food and sustainability seeps into everything she does, something she believes she harnessed during her time in Ireland, “the most inspiring thing about being there was the passion from the teachers and their drive to make a difference”. Xanthe acknowledges how lucky she is to be able to work on projects she cares so deeply about. She recognises this privilege, but notes her desire to use it to spread the message about the value of community and seasonality, something we agree has been lost as a result of the industrial food system. The gap between sustainability and restaurant eating particularly, is a real issue, Xanthe explains, with the rise of bigger businesses trying to keep costs low. It’s led to a lack of care about food sourcing and the collapse of many local producers. We discuss championing start-ups like Foodchain who are driving the movement in connecting suppliers with chefs, to create a transparent and more efficient supply chain. Similarly, supporting organic farming is crucial to changing the way people purchase their food. Xanthe has proudly partnered with farmers Abel & Cole who provide the produce for her supper clubs, explaining that the provenance of her ingredients is integral to her ethos.
In February, Xanthe will be speaking on a panel as well as becoming an ambassador at a local primary school to teach children about the importance of seasonal and local food. Like anyone embarking on a new career there have been moments of self-doubt, particularly as she’s chosen to venture off the beaten track, swapping her commuting companions for donkeys and dogs. Xanthe admits that she has missed out on occasions in the last year, with most of her friends still based in London, “but none of that feels worth it enough to not be doing this”, she smiles, “I just love it, I love talking about food and telling people all these little facts and stories, I want to spread the word”.
Xanthe has found Instagram key in allowing her to share her story, enabling her to connect with others that inspire and share the same ideas. I ask if she feels pressure to portray her life through this medium, but generally she has found it a very positive place. “I’m aware that there are people out there who just want to trip you up, so that’s something I’d be quite careful of”, but she believes that her experience in marketing and social media management has given her a good grounding in how to present herself online. She’s also aware of the necessity in giving herself time to switch off, with a varied routine she makes time for daily rituals, including a bath every evening and running or yoga two or three times a week.
When Xanthe’s not working or thinking about current or potential projects, she’ll be reading or making sourdough bread, “that’s the thing I love the most out of everything, making notes about each loaf and understanding the process”. I ask about the books on her bedside table, she’s just finished Wilding by Isabella Tree and is currently reading Dancing with Bees, Brigit Strawbridge Howard’s journey back to nature. The Third Plate by Dan Barber is her “Bible” and she cites friend Valentine Warner’s new book The Consolation of Food as another source of inspiration. She also looks to Gill Meller, Anna Jones and Anja Dunk for new ideas and tonight she’ll be using the latter’s recipe to bake a new rye sourdough loaf.
Photo via @Department_Two
Finally, I ask, “what would your death row meal be?” There’s a pause whilst she stops to put another log on the fire, we start with pudding which would be “a dense, rich sea salt and chocolate tart”, main is “mushroom pasta with butter and sage made by an Italian mother”. To start? “It would have to be burrata with a fresh tomato and basil salad”. “Delicious”, we both conclude, agreeing that given ten more minutes she could come up with ten different menus.
I leave Xanthe to start her baking and menu planning, preparing to crack on with more projects tomorrow. I come away feeling enlightened, encouraged by Xanthe’s desire to make a difference and excited by the energy that bubbles under everything she does.