Jay Halford

My name’s Jay Halford and I’m on a mission; a mission to re-educate people into realising how easy it is to make the transition into feeding their body what is so desperately craves.

My background as a chef and in catering has meant that for me, taste always comes first. I believe that you should recognise every ingredient that is used in a recipe; how they are best combined to create the ultimate taste.

Where did my journey begin? Well, my love of food began at the age of 13; I worked in a busy Italian restaurant, washing pots for what can only be described as a nutcase of a chef with a huge passion for food. It was here that I decided that upon leaving school I would complete an apprenticeship – I did and then got straight into it. I started work at Lords of the Manor, A Michelin Star restaurant close to my home in Cheltenham. There, I met a great friend, Mark; his work ethic was impressive, he showed me his dedication to food and the hard work it entailed.

I won’t lie, after two years of learning everything involved, the long hours and stress became too much. I was beginning to lose my love of being a chef – not of food though, nothing could dispel that. This was a life-changing time as it prompted me to travel the world. You can imagine the variety of foods, juicing and techniques I was exposed to – this just fuelled my love of food even further.

I realised I could still do what I loved doing but in the way that I wanted to do it. It is now a massively growing trend, with many more people now consciously thinking about their health and what they are putting into their bodies.
Returning to Cheltenham, I knew it was time to incorporate my new way of thinking into my life. A personal trainer friend of mine introduced me to raw food and clean living; I was hooked. Adopting juicing and raw foods into my life, it had a profound effect and I wanted to share this with the world. This is when ‘The Core in Cheltenham’ was created.

I continue to run the Core in Cheltenham for 4 years whilst building my personnel brand and getting myself everywhere and anywhere that would have me doing pop up restaurants and workshops. I now for the past 3 years and been very focused on retreats and consultancy catering for groups of health and wellness warriors and helping other businesses to transition to healthier food options.

I have been lucky enough to travel all over the world doing this and now I am super excited to be bring my food back to Cheltenham and host the event at the new NR Social space.