Member Article

Jamie Oliver Revolution Comes To Sunderland

Celebrity TV Chef Jamie Oliver is bringing his food revolution to Sunderland with the opening of a new Ministry of Food Kitchen.

The development of the Beacon of Light will see the launch of the first Ministry of Food Kitchen on Wearside, which is expected to welcome hundreds of families and young people every year.

The chef and restauranteur founded the Ministry of Food because he wanted to inspire people to get in the kitchen and cook meals from scratch for themselves. He believes with some basic skills and a handful of recipes everyone can prepare nutritious meals on a budget.

The Foundation of Light and Ministry of Food, which is part of the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, joined forces for the first time in 2015 to promote healthy eating in schools as part of a community out-reach programme. The new teaching kitchen on Wearside will mean even more local people will be able to enjoy a hands on cookery experience and will see the launch of new taster and advanced cookery programmes.

Ministry of Food founder Jamie Oliver said: “I’m really excited to see our partnership with Sunderland AFC’s Foundation of Light make such an impact in the local community. Alongside their brilliant work encouraging people to get active, they’ve done an incredible job with our Ministry of Food programme, helping to teach people how to cook fresh, good, nutritious food for themselves and their families.

“I’m thrilled to see this extend to an official Ministry of Food centre in the area – learning to cook healthy food from scratch really can change lives for the better, and teaming that with an active lifestyle can be a super powerful thing.”

Matt Hill, Director of Families and Adults for the Foundation said: “We are delighted that Jamie has decided to bring his food revolution to Sunderland. He’s a fantastic role model and his campaigns to improve the health and happiness of future generations through the food they eat are inspiring.

“The new partnership is a huge coup for the Beacon and we’re certain that the Jamie Oliver brand will encourage many more people to think about a healthy and balanced diet.

“The Ministry of Food Kitchen at the Beacon will have state of the art cooking facilities and a teaching space for children, young people and families. The practical hands-on cooking courses will teach people of all ages how to cook from scratch. All the classes will use Jamie Oliver recipes and resources, specifically developed with nutrition in mind, and aim to build people’s confidence to cook affordable and nutritious meals for themselves.

“Jamie believes access to fresh, real food and the basic skills to cook it has the power to transform lives – an ethos that resonates with everything we do at the Foundation.”

The Ministry of Food is typically an 8-week cooking skills program which is primarily aimed at increasing confidence and cooking skills and designed to encourage families to eat a more nutritious diet. The cookery programme teaches people of all ages and abilities to understand more about food and aims to develop the basic skills and knowledge they need to make more healthy food choices.

The award winning Foundation of Light was established in 2001 and uses the power of football to educate, inspire and motivate. One of the largest and leading sports charities in the UK, it has an excellent track record of working with children, young people and their families.

Structurally and financially independent of Sunderland Football Club, the Foundation is the architect of its own success raising over £4 million pa to deliver life changing and pioneering education programmes across the region.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James Burman .