Daughter Follows in her Father’s Footsteps on Renowned Specialised Chefs Course at the College

Rio Golding, the 16-year-old daughter of chef James Golding, has just begun the first round of her exciting journey through Bournemouth and Poole College; studying on the same course as her eminent dad, James. She has done some preparatory work experience with both her dad and in other restaurants, before joining the course. 

Rio’s dad James is a well-known chef who first worked during his Specialised Chefs course (30 years ago this year) at The Savoy, getting a great grounding in French cuisine. During his long and illustrious career, he has worked in eight top hotels and restaurants including TV appearances such as Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch programme. He was formerly employed at Le Caprice (1981), The Ivy (1990) and Sheekey (2000).  In 1998 James was offered the position of Chef-de-Partie at Le Caprice, working under Mark Hix and later Elliot Ketley.

After leaving Sheekeys, where James had risen to Sous Chef, he headed for the dizzy heights of the 6th floor restaurant at Soho House in New York. Whilst there, he undertook an exclusive members’-only Oscar party that Soho House Hollywood hosts annually in Los Angeles in California.  He attributes his experiences in America to honing his somewhat postmodern British style of cuisine.

James rose to heights of fame working in The Pig Hotels as Chef Director until his departure in September 2023 to set up his own Supper club and Celebrity chef events company Nomadic Sporadic in the UK and Tuscany where they own a house.

Rio says of her decision to do the same course as her father: “Dad’s career did impress me and watching how hard he worked. He brought me to The Pig to work and immersed me in the kitchen and I enjoyed it. I loved it and saw it for myself as a future career.”

So far, Rio says she has learned “Quite a lot”, despite only being just a month or so into her new course. She said she is enjoying the theory and learning about gluten and food tech, and the study goes much further than the food safety classes she has already had a go at previously. She said she had never learned so much about bacteria and its implications until starting the course. 

Rio’s programme, much like her father’s, is a 4-year programme (although the students on James’ course finished six months early!). Rio is due to graduate in 2028 and will be among the first students to step into the new multimillion-pound building on the Bournemouth site, with the newly built Escoffier public-facing restaurant on the first floor, and kitchens above on the second floor. 

James, Rio’s dad, is now working on two major projects. With an Italian mother - or ‘Nonna’ (grandmother) to Rio and her brother Rex - James heads to Tuscany and Northern Italy to lead food experience trips with groups of visitors regularly, working closely with Baccello wines in Christchurch. He hopes to bring out a book next year. 

James’ other project is as Head of Food Education with The Prept Foundation (formerly the Table Top Foundation) in Sussex, a charity designated to provide cooking skills, for healthy relationships with food. The charity advocates that they: “Help young people find their way with food, so they are prepared for life.” James’ investment into young people's cooking extends to his own daughter and he says the third part of his career will be to overseeing her progression through her course. 

James says that he doesn’t have a ‘favourite dish’ as such, because he likes to eat food in season, and is more for sustainable cooking, when food is at the ‘peak of its freshness’. However, he said recently, he has a penchant for Truffle Risotto and ‘Cep’ mushrooms on toast. He enjoys game - particularly partridge – which he says is a great option for free-range protein. Another food he enjoys cooking is asparagus – especially with brown butter, lemon zest and pecorino cheese. Rio, on the other hand, has had an overload of lemons and doesn’t even like them very much!

Rio, with her Italian heritage and her formative years in a culinary background, is set to show the classroom what she’s made of. She says she enjoys working for her dad at Nomadic Sporadic supper clubs with a five or six-course menu. She says she is “Excited to juggle around with all sections of cookery and to learn everything in the kitchen.” She also is interested in learning cooking sauces so that she can excel in all parts of her career. When asked, although it was early days, how the course was going generally, Rio offered: “The social aspect is amazing. I’ve made friends already and everyone is nice and opinionated in a good way, and they have a drive to work hard. I’m enjoying myself.”

Rio enjoys lots of sports in her spare time, from the gym to walks and running. She has done Tae Kwon Do and lots of swimming in the past. She has a part-time job outside of college and loves doodling, especially architectural buildings and sea animals like octopus and squid. When asked if she’d yet cooked either - she hadn’t- but had tried squid. 

With her dad’s help and preparation for her course, Rio has done some work experience placements with Tom Bolton (The Dorchester), a 1-1 with Claire Clark learning about Macaroons and French cuisine. She has also done a workshop with Raymond Blanc and other key figures in her dad’s culinary world – soon to become her own. 

We’ll check in again on Rio when she’s further down the line on her course, and keep you posted. Good luck Rio! 

For information on Nomadic Sporadic, James’s events’ company please see:  http://www.nomadicsporadic.com.