Sam, a wonderful volunteer at our Community Kitchen, describes her experiences volunteering and participating at the Community Kitchen
After initially attending one of our HAF (Holiday activities and food) sessions at the Community Kitchen, Sam has gone on to attend several Community Cookery sessions, including Nourish which promotes better Mental Health through cooking. When attending sessions as a participant Sam was inspired to become a volunteer. She now regularly volunteers at the Community Kitchen and is an integral part of the team, providing support for new participants and a wonderfully friendly presence in our classes.
Since coming to the Community Kitchen Sam has improved her confidence in and out of the kitchen, experimented with new ingredients, and has noticed an improvement in her children’s eating habits. She also says she enjoys the social side of volunteering and attending sessions, particularly making new friends and she describes how it brings out her supportive side. Read more about Sam’s experience in her own words below:
“I first learned about the Community Kitchen through HAF with my daughter. She still makes the recipes we learned during the sessions, including flatbreads and pasta sauces. It was such a nice way for her to learn as there’s lots more space and equipment than at home and kids often learn better when it’s not their parents telling them. The experience for her has been overwhelmingly positive, as she has struggled with her mental health and bullying her body image has been badly impacted. The HAF sessions at the Kitchen were an excellent way to reintroduce healthy eating in a fun environment and show her how to make meals she struggled with like pizza. She’s since become more interested in varying her diet especially when she’s involved in the cooking.
Attending Community Cookery Courses
After attending a few courses alongside my daughter, I noticed the Community Cookery leaflets and applied to join a course myself. As a mum, you can get stuck in the pattern of making pasta and chicken nuggets and I have struggled with my mental health and confidence over the last couple of years. So, I thought the Nourish course, would be perfect as I can try new things for family cooking and get to speak to other adults. It has had the desired impact, improving my confidence and I feel like a lot of me came back. I am caring and love to support people but I sort of lost a bit of that when I was struggling. The course has helped me turn that around and to understand I am more than just a mum, I’ve got more to offer than I thought. It has been nice to learn that, make new friendships and see that part of me grow.
Experimenting with different ingredients and becoming more confident in the Kitchen
Additionally, the recipes I have learned have been so helpful for me and have opened my eyes to cooking more vegetarian food and cooking with different vegetables and ingredients. This is very helpful when I get ingredients I don’t know what to do with for example when we have used foodbanks. I can be braver with the combinations I make and think if I don’t have all the ingredients it’s okay I can make swaps. Also, I’m able to use the same ingredients in so many different dishes, which keeps our food varied and interesting. As for the recipes, roasted chickpeas are such a useful snack and I have used them in other dishes such as curries and salads. Nine times out of ten I make my bread and pizza from scratch now, which is much healthier and cheaper. It is also easy to get my kids involved, they love the flatbreads. My absolute favourite though is the tomato chutney we made with surplus tomatoes from Fareshare, I just can’t get enough of it!
Volunteering at the Community Kitchen
I felt encouraged by my experiences in Nourish to take that next step and become a volunteer. You couldn’t find a better team to work with and you don’t feel like you’re working for them but with them. You’re not just Cinderella in the corner scrubbing pans all day. You feel like you’re part of the team. On a selfish note, I get to pick up some of the cookery skills and I’m giving something back as well.
I have enjoyed all the classes I have volunteered at. The school cookery group is great, it’s so fun to see the children develop and grow over the sessions. You know, people come in and their expectation of what they can achieve aren’t there yet. But to see them go above their expectations, whether it’s a grown-up or a child, is really good fun. It was nice as a volunteer last week to be here helping two people that I made friends with through the Nourish course. It’s wonderful to have built that relationship. If you’d said to me at home, do that much washing up, I’d hate it. But here you don’t notice it because the volunteers and chefs that you’re working with are so nice, and all the participants are lovely.
I have been sending links to EVERYONE who would qualify for a community class and everyone else I know I have been sending them the links to evening classes. Because it’s just such a lovely space to come and learn something, grow your confidence and you get to eat and take home so much lovely food.”
