Food for thought

Staff profile: Sam Ranger, Chef

Street Kitchen was first opened on our Canterbury campus in 2017. Located in Jarman plaza it is the go-to place for feel-good food on the go. With a new menu every week, serving flavoursome food at affordable prices, it caters for vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters. For the editors of this magazine, Street Kitchen is a blessing – an antidote to the mundanity of sandwiches every day! Sam Ranger is the chef who heads up the Street Kitchen team.

Sam grew up in Whitstable, and attended Barton Court Grammar School in Canterbury. He moved away from Kent, before going travelling for a year – south-east Asia, New Zealand, South America: “Food played a massive part when I was travelling. My girlfriend was writing a travel journal while we were away – I was just writing a food diary!”

After returning to Kent, Sam was working in the Bishop’s Finger pub in Canterbury, near the Westgate Towers. The head chef left, and Sam was offered some shifts in the kitchen. He thought this meant helping out, and was therefore surprised to be running the kitchen.

“It was quite a small kitchen with a relatively simple menu. I was into my food, but this was being thrown into the deep end. It was a case of, ‘You are the chef now’. You learn quickly that way, because you have to.”

Sam’s next step was to Café du Soleil in Canterbury, in a chef de partie role. He worked his way up from there to Head Chef: “I really enjoyed it. The standard of food there is really good.”

This was followed by a break and travelling: “Four of five years in hospitality is more than enough for anyone!”

“While my girlfriend and I were away, we re-evaluated and decided we want to start a family. The University is more suited to this. The work-life balance – 35 hours compared to 75 hours a week – is much better. It means I can spend time with my girlfriend and son.”

Sam joined the University, initially working in Sibson Café, before working at some of the other outlets on campus. Street Kitchen began in 2017, first as a concept, then as a van…

The concept means free rein for the chef, writing a menu with fresh, fast-to-prepare food each week. While working in the kitchen at Dolche Vita, Sam was approached by his manager to see if he was interested in becoming the Street Kitchen chef.

“It’s the perfect job for me at Kent. You don’t get bored of the food; firstly, it changes every week, and secondly if I do get bored of it, it’s my fault because I picked it. If I go for dinner somewhere and try something amazing, and think other people would like it, I can put it on the menu.”

The inspiration for Sam’s menus comes from his own experiences with food, whether that’s going on holiday and trying something new that students, staff or visitors to the Canterbury campus might also not have tried before, but also closer to home – new and different local restaurants. A visit to Mercato Metropolitano in Elephant and Castle, a street food market, was particularly inspiring – 40 vendors and a micro-brewery on site, serving food from around the world.

Unsurprisingly, food is a big part of life for Sam and his family. At home he has started a project to build a tandoor in his garden, after seeing a video online on how to build one using large terracotta plant pots. His father, meanwhile, has bought a dedicated pizza oven.

After the rush of Welcome Week 2019, we caught up with Sam. He prepared one of his favourite Street Kitchen recipes for us: steamed bao buns with char sui pork. You can find the recipe overleaf.

Street Kitchen is open on our Canterbury campus, Monday to Friday 11.00-15.00. You can sign up to a newsletter to see each week’s menu at: www.kent.ac.uk/catering/ where-to-eat/street-kitchen.html