Roving chef, Jane Hughes, gets into the kitchen to share what she loves best.
I had a lovely day with a group of ladies in Ashton on Monday.
Thanks to having the use of great facilities at the People First Kitchen, we were able to get hands-on and create a very satisfying vegetarian buffet for everybody to enjoy.
I explained the mission of Vegetarian for Life and went on to share my realisation that I’m now teaching people who already know how to cook. This received fervent agreement from a couple of my ‘students’ who said they found many cookery classes and TV programmes frustrating for that very reason – they don’t need to be told the basics.
One or two ladies hadn’t been expecting to cook during the class; one lady had limited vision and another was struggling with pain in her arms and shoulders. Happily, we had two willing assistants on hand to help them take part. One other lady decided she would prefer to watch and learn, but gamely took on the role of washer-up (“That’s the fourth time in 10 minutes I’ve washed this sieve!”)
It was so good to see the group launch themselves into unknown territory as they tackled vegan baking, chopped up smoked tofu and stirred a Quorn mince chilli.
When we reached lunchtime, we quickly fried up some veggie sausages, veggie bacon and fajita strips to add to the spread. All the food that wasn’t eaten was eagerly boxed up to take home, and even the left-over soya milk was sampled and pronounced surprisingly tasty.
The feedback was great with everybody saying how much fun they had had. Comments included “I loved it!” and “You’ve inspired me!’”
I came away with a sense that I’d done a good job of making them think twice about their food choices. And what nicer way to get that message across?
