Food for Champions: Teaching Kids How to Cook!

Learning how to use knifes safely. 

The Food for Champions programme was off to a great start last week. Some new faces and old, we had a great time preparing a delicious fruit salad! The purpose of these classes is to touch young children in Southwark and Lambeth the joy of cooking and how to eat healthily. 

Together with Enterprise Un-Ltd, the Mini Cooking Club have created a fantastic programme in which your children will learn about some exciting ingredients, where they come from and how to use them to make some tasty recipes from around the world.

We’ll then eat them together as a group with our new friends. Be quick as we have limited spaces, so don’t wait too long to sign up.

The Food for Champions programme will be held at Lansdowne Youth Centre, 278 South Lambeth Road London SW8 1UJ on Saturdays from the 9th November until the 14th of December. Sessions run from 10:30-12:30 and are completely free. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity; we’re looking forward to seeing you there!

Run by Cecilia Belier, our founder, these sessions aim to teach children the value of eating healthily and practical cooking skills, all in a fun setting with others their own age! Children must be aged 5-11 and have an interest in learning how to cook. 

Cecilia is a trained chef and has a background running MEND sessions dedicated to reducing global overweight and obesity levels. She also has a degree in International Development from the University of Hong Kong.  Cecilia currently works at Compass promoting health eating in schools and building community relations.

Click this link for our photo gallery from the session! 

Cecilia and two of our trainee chefs!

By Catherine Heath

Help is Here: The Nutrition During Pregnancy Programme

Our nutritionist, Karen, and one of our volunteers

Are you expecting a baby, and concerned about the health of you and your child? The Mini Cooking Club is here to help. 

Pregnancy is both an exciting and stressful time, during which hormones can seem out of control and the body is craving all sorts of food. Diet can seem like a minefield, and reading dozens of lengthy nutrition books can be the last thing you want to do. 

That’s why our nutritionist, Karen Buckley, has designed the Nutrition During Pregnancy Programme. On this free six week course, you will learn about the different stages of pregnancy and associated physical changes. 

Karen will teach expecting mothers about the best eating practices to prepare body and mind for childbirth, and ensure your baby has the best start to life. This opportunity involves learning about the best food provision pre and post-birth, for you and your child. 

You will also learn about weight change, the Eat Well Plate and in-depth information about essential nutrition, danger foods, and religious or meat-free diets. You will learn about the benefits of exercise, what to avoid, post-birth nutrition and breastfeeding. 

The Mini Cooking Club welcomes people into the kitchen for hands-on cooking classes, and attendees have the opportunity to participate fully in the food preparation process under the supervision of our chefs. These classes are designed to be fun, creative and above all informative about food products and different cooking methods.

The classes provide people living in the London community with opportunities to learn nutrition and cooking skills. The Nutrition During Pregnancy Programme is the first of its kind, and completely free. The course is open to all pregnant women, starts Monday 13th May and runs for six weeks at East Dulwich Community Centre. We're excited to see you there!

Places are still available, so book yours now. Email Karen, or call 07779129371.

Our founder, Cecilia (far left)

By Catherine Heath

Understanding Coeliac Disease

Gluten free snacks

Gluten is a protein composite ingredient found in wheat and other grains. One in every hundred people living in the UK is intolerant to it, and this condition is known as “coeliac disease”. The digestive system is unable to break down any amount of gluten and so consumption causes digestive issues such as nausea, diarrhoea and stomach cramps. Long-term effects of undiagnosed or untreated coeliac disease include infertility and nutrient deficiencies.

The only treatment is a completely gluten-free diet. Although very effective, it can be difficult in practice because the condition is not universally acknowledged. Unfortunately, gluten is found in common foods such as bread, pasta, cereals and cakes. Surprisingly, most brands of oven chips and sausages have added gluten, as do beer, soy sauce, ketchup and ice cream, to name a few. These foods should be avoided, or replaced with gluten-free alternatives.

In overseas markets, a gluten-free diet is catered for almost as readily as vegetarianism. In the UK, coeliac sufferers find it hard to eat out in restaurants and on-the-go, as gluten-free food is not very affordable or widely available. Many people are restricted to eating salads for lunch in the city, since most mainstream brands and companies are unaware of the demand for gluten-free products. Coeliac disease is slowly becoming more widely understood and accounted for in British culture but we are still far behind places like America and Europe. It really should be much simpler for coeliac sufferers to maintain a healthy diet.

There are already a few gluten-free alternatives to bread, pasta, cereal, biscuits and cake available in the UK, produced by brands like Dove’s Farm and Genius. There are also a few other established brands like Mrs Crimbles and Eat Natural whose recognisable logos make shopping a bit easier. Waitrose, Marks and Spencer Asda provide the biggest product ranges that are also labelled as gluten-free. South Londoners can also shop at smaller chains like Whole Market Foods in Clapham, which sells many gluten-free products, and check out Planet Organic in central London.

People with coeliac disease can also obtain gluten-free food on prescription from the NHS, available through your doctor. The foods on offer are generally dietary staples such as bread and pasta, rather than biscuits and cake items, and the list has been agreed by a body called the Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances (ACBS). Make sure you’ve approached your GP about this option if you are a sufferer.  

Widely recognised gluten free symbol

You can find many useful sources of information via the internet written by coeliacs themselves. Blogs like Gluten Free Guerrillas and Gluten Free London offer reviews and lists of coeliac-friendly restaurants, shops and recipes in an accessible format.

Please visit www.coeliac.org.uk for lots of reliable information and advice. If you think you might have undiagnosed coeliac disease, please make an appointment with your GP to confirm or rule it out as soon as possible. 

By Catherine Heath