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HELP GOOD FOOD TO BEGIN AT HOME AND EVERYONE BENEFITS, SAYS COOKERY EDUCATOR PIONEER, LUCY MAY
So many memories revolve around food – from favourite meals to kitchen disasters to the very first time you could proudly proclaim “I made this”. Lucy May knows the role that food – good, homemade food – can play in strengthening families and communities, not to mention selfconfidence. That’s the ethos behind The Organic Cookery School, the not for profit community cookery school she established in 2004 with Frances Williams.
The idea is very simple: helping children and teenagers to cook, stepping into the gaps where overstretched and underconfident schools – and parents – aren’t able to pass on these skills themselves. Their classes are all about giving people more confidence in the kitchen. But it’s not just about getting a meal on a plate (although that’s certainly worth valuing as an achievement) – as we all know, cooking is about so much more: it’s about ingredients, provenance and nutrition, planning and budgeting. And, as Lucy emphasises, it’s also about getting people together: making food “a communal activity”, she argues, “brings the whole family together.” The school specialises in practically-focused, family friendly courses, from ‘cooking for baby’ to ‘Brilliant Baking for teens’ to ‘cooking with dad’, drawing on Lucy’s expertise as a former teacher. They’ve even run courses for older men who needed to learn to cook. To date, they’ve worked with over 50,000
families and over 1,000 schools and Lucy was recognised recently as a finalist for the BBC Food Chain’s Global Champion Award – honouring those who “have done the most to promote the cause of good food”.
Lucy is committed to the democracy of eating well – that “good food” isn’t about fancy ingredients or elaborate restaurants. It should be accessible to everyone and that it can make a significant difference in how we live our lives, day to day.
But, so often, it is undervalued. Lucy’s next step is reaching more people with the lessons she’s learned: putting courses online or getting more trained teachers out across the country. “You’d struggle to find a community in the UK that doesn’t need this”, she says.
The school’s ethos is simple – and its ideas can be put into action very simply. Whether it’s involving a child or a teen in the kitchen, “it’s not as difficult as you imagine,” promises Lucy. “Follow a recipe geared towards their age, and don’t be worried to let them have a go at things.” Perhaps most importantly, however: “You will be making memories that children will never forget.” organiccookeryschool.org
“Good food isn’t about fancy ingredients or restaurants. It should be accessible to everyone”