Foodwise Teaching Cookery Knowhow With Support From Jamie Oliver And Tesco

Published on: 8 Mar, 2021
Updated on: 7 Mar, 2021

Community cook Charlotte Fraser will be using Jamie Oliver’s cookery knowhow to help families in need across Guildford to create simple, nutritional and delicious recipes.

FoodWise cookery knowhow teacher Charlotte Fraser.

Charlotte works for FoodWise, a local Christian charity that before Covid-19 restrictions hit the nation was delivering food provision, training and education to the most isolated, the elderly and those people experiencing financial hardship.

To help the community further, Charlotte was invited to take part in Tesco’s online Community Cookery School.

The cookery school course was developed by Jamie Oliver-trained community cooks, Tesco development chefs and nutritionists.

It covers knife skills and basic nutrition, as well as offering flexible recipes which can be adapted to complement a wide variety of typically donated food.

The free course provided funding for Charlotte to purchase food and any cooking equipment she needed to take part, as well as a detailed insight into a range of recipes that she can pass on to those in need.

Charlotte said: “We’ve always aimed to show people that cooking doesn’t have to be a chore and that they can go for healthy options that don’t take forever to prepare. The Tesco course was brilliant for that.

“I’m really pleased to have been part of it. It’s been so helpful. Covid has disrupted our work, so we started doing the cooking ourselves and distributing the meals to those in need. We’ve been delivering about 400 meals a week.

“But as the pandemic restrictions look like they might ease in the coming weeks, we’re starting to think about how we can get back to teaching small groups of people again.

“We’ve done courses on Zoom and people in the community have told us how valuable the courses are to them. It’s another skill for them to have, as well as the obvious practical benefits of feeding their family.

“I’m now looking forward to passing on what I learnt from the Tesco course to our local families.”

The cookery school initiative launched in 2019 with the aim of training 1,000 community cooks – a target which was achieved by January 2020. The programme was developed in partnership with Tesco’s health ambassador, Jamie Oliver, and food distribution charity FareShare.

They aim to provide recipes and skills to make the most of the food typically donated to charities, such as tinned food and store cupboard ingredients. This year’s campaign is focused on the importance of cooking balanced meals from scratch by offering ideas and recipes to increase the use of fruit and veg in everyday meals.

Sue Couter, Tesco’s community programme and charities manager, said: “It’s really great that Charlotte found our course so helpful and that she’ll be sharing her knowledge with families in her community.

“Nutritious meals are so important for all of us, and we’re very pleased to be providing the education and support to make balanced and affordable everyday recipes.”

Story based on a press release from FoodWise.