HIGH END FOOD

James Ellis and Jason Shaw, from the Yorkshire Dales, have set up a healthy eating online subscription service. The former tells us more about Elevated Food For Life

By MARK KEBBLE

Q What’s your background in nutrition?

A I was born in a pub in a South Yorkshire mining village – literally, in the rooms above the pub – so I’ve been around food, cooking and the hospitality business since day one. My mum loves food and is a pretty decent cook, so I was always interested in it; then, when I was about 10-years-old my world changed radically. Mum and dad got divorced and my mum took my sister and I o to live in Greece, pre-empting Shirley Valentine by about 10 years! She still jokes to this day that when I was 13 I asked for a food mixer for my birthday… so an interest in food and cooking has always been there. Fast forward a number of years and I was working as a journalist on national newspapers in London. After many years, I’d re-kindled my relationship with my dad – but not for long as he ended up dying far too young after complications following an operation. They were complications exacerbated by a lifestyle that included heavy drinking and smoking, little exercise and a pretty poor diet. His passing prompted me to look at my own lifestyle – and I realised I was following suit. After a few aborted attempts, I quit smoking, cut down on booze and got back into the gym. The transformation was quite literally life changing. Not only did I lose a tonne of weight and looked a decade younger, but I also changed careers, becoming first a personal trainer, and then a nutritionist and health coach.

Q When did you first meet Jason Shaw?

A Jason and I met at the school gates. We live in a small village near Otley, which has a surprising number of creative people in it. Our children became part of a wider group of friends and we also all connected as parents and became firm friends. Within that, I was a nutritionist and a keen amateur cook, Jason was a professional chef who wanted to know more about nutrition, and so we’d share a lot of information and do experimental cooking sessions together. One Easter we even dug a pit in our back garden, built a fire in it, then when it was down to the embers put a whole lamb in and buried it to slow cook overnight… Just because we wanted to see if we could do a Greek-style kleftikolamb in the way it was originally done by rustlers in the Greek mountains.

Q What inspired you to launch Elevated?

A We’ve got children the same age and both of us aim to be around for them for as long as possible. Jason won’t mind me saying that his son Christian is on the spectrum, and he asked me a lot about foods that might help Christian. We started playing around, developing some recipes and we kept coming back to this idea of elevating food – on my side asking ‘how nutritious is this?’ and from Jason’s keeping his core che ng principles, that food has to have three Ts and a P to be successful: taste, temperature, texture and presentation. We thought it could work as a concept: food that is cooked from scratch, designed to give as many nutrients as possible, reducing common allergens so accessible to all, simple to cook and tasty. So we tried it out on some friends for about 4-5 months, they loved it and so we decided to launch it as a service.

Q In a nutshell, what do you o er?

A We describe ourselves as a Netflix of health-giving video recipes. When you sign up, you get access to all the back catalogue, but we add new recipes each month, almost in a magazine-like way so everything is seasonal. You also get what we call Brilliant Bases that allow you to spin o lots of other dishes quickly from one core recipe. Then there are skills tips videos to teach you how to cook like a boss, articles that demystify nutrition and o er lifestyle tips, a private Facebook group and a monthly ‘ask us anything’ Q&A. Oh, and people get two e-books when they sign up: The Foodies Guide to Vitamins and Minerals and The High Protein Playbook.

Q Who is Elevated aimed at?

A Everyone really – but more than anything, it works for people like us. Busy parents who want to give their family the best nutrition we can a ord in the least time possible. If we can take the stress out of meal times, help people reduce the amount of processed food they eat and, perhaps, let them fall in love with food again, we’ll have done a job to be proud of elevatedfoodforlife.com

Founded by Dr Lubna KhanSalim, a Yorkshire based cosmetic surgeon and owner of skin and wellness clinic, Time to Bloom, the events at This is Yorkshire Beauty cover topics and issues around representation in beauty, sustainability, women’s health, and aesthetics, and are taking place across Yorkshire throughout the week.

From panel discussions to workshops and cinema screenings, there is something for everyone to enjoy, and tickets range in price, starting from £15 for a special session dedicated to eye beauty and treatments taking place in Bradford, to an exclusive event all about biohacking and women’s health at Grantley Hall in Ripon, priced at £195. Here’s what the schedule holds in store:

MONDAY 22 MAY

• SUSTAINABLE BEAUTY – EVERYMAN

CINEMA HARROGATE 12PM-2.30PM

Take your seat at the private screening of the thought-provoking, award-winning Tomorrow and The Butterfly, and hear from sustainable expert speakers on what the beauty industry can and should be doing, and the power of consumers to instigate change.