Family cookery clubs win Big Society Award
Cooking clubs where volunteers have taught over 2.8 million children and families how to prepare healthy meals have won a Big Society Award.
The Children’s Food Trust’s ‘Let’s Get Cooking’ programme supports volunteer-led clubs in schools all over the country. Volunteer cooking champions are trained to teach a selection of healthy dishes to families to give them the knowledge and skills to make healthy food choices. After each club session families are given a free copy of the recipe they have just prepared to try again at home.
There are now 5,000 ‘Let’s Get Cooking’ clubs in the UK and each one is tailored to meet the specific needs of the young people in the areas. Clubs range from the ‘Pass It On Curry’ Club in Merseyside, set up by a science teacher to encourage more boys to try cooking, through to ‘Cooking for Uni’, devised for sixth form students in Kent, which teaches pupils to cook healthier while on a budget. All of the cooking clubs build confidence and self-esteem through teaching new skills and educating young people to choose healthier foods.
Prime Minister David Cameron said:
Millions of families have picked up new healthy cookery skills thanks to the vision and remarkable volunteer chefs of ‘Let’s Get Cooking’.
From curry clubs in primary schools, to cooking on a budget at university - the clubs’ appeal is wide-ranging and I’m delighted to be making them the latest Big Society award winners.
Head of Let’s Get Cooking, Maggie Sims said:
We’re so thrilled to receive such a special award. It’s a fantastic way to honour all of our brilliant clubs across the country and the dedicated coordinators that make it all possible.
We see so many negative stories in the news about the devastating effects of poor diet, so it’s great to celebrate the positive work we know is happening to change the way children and their families eat for the better.
So far, Let’s Get Cooking has helped more than 2.8 million people improve their cooking skills and the impact it’s having at home is huge. We know that 92% of members use their new cooking skills at home, and more than half tell us they now eat more healthily.