Dame Cathy Sloman
Continuing our Dames Give Back initiative, Dame Clare Donovan invited us to spend time with her and her devoted team at Cooking Champions. Clare founded this food support, education and training charity, offering a wealth of resources for people in the Enfield area to meet significant need.
Dame Cathy Sloman and Dame Stephanie Teekaram, visiting London from the New York chapter, headed up to north London to help out. It was a truly rewarding experience – Clare and the team can always use an extra pair of hands, so do let her know if you’d like to help out. No need to wait for another LDE London trip up there, Clare will most certainly put you to work.
Stephanie got there first, to the great resource they have at St Matthew’s Church in Ponders End, and by the time I arrived, she was peeling and chopping like a woman possessed. I live just down the road in north London, so obviously I was a little later than planned…
While Stephanie was in the community kitchen, helping to prepare a magnifique French-themed three course lunch, I was put to work in the food bank. The brief was to use a selection of the array of ingredients donated by various sources, including the Felix Project and Hello Fresh, to demonstrate some dishes the recipients could try at home, to teach a few basic kitchen skills and shae some of my tips and tricks.
There was a steady flow of people coming to collect from the abundance of produce. I should them how to make a Thai curry, using some the the vegetables on offer I also rustled up a chickpea and potato korma, plus a Mexican(ish) bean salad (no chillies but what’s wrong with a bit of improv in the kitchen?) Fusion at it’s finest!
It was great to see people tuck in and then pick the up the produce to recreate what they’d tasted. Lots of questions about the ingredients and what to do with them. And people were willing to try flavours they thought they might not love, which always makes me very happy.
The warmth (not literally, in a church, in February…) and kindness of the food bank team was inspiring, it’s really important to them that everyone who comes along knows that they’re in a special, safe space where they can learn and not feel any shame when they receive food support.
In between demos, I had time for a little a taster of the community kitchen lunch, prepared for anyone who wants to join, everyone is welcome. The food was delicious and it was full house this week, clearly people know they will get a fantastic meal in a convivial and supportive atmosphere.
Stephanie said: “I was so honoured to be able to volunteer with Clare and her team. The work they do at the kitchen and with the food bank is wonderful. Good, healthy food should be enjoyed by all and Clare and her team are doing an amazing job getting it out there and also teaching others how to prepare meals using what they’ve got. I will definitely be back”.
As a chapter, we would love to extend our volunteering in London and beyond. Anyone can get involved in their local community fridge projects, check out https://www.communityfridgemap.org.uk/ to find out more about how you can get involved in schemes in your local area.
Maybe you already volunteer in your local community? Let us know! Send us pics!!