Bringing Collective Kitchens to England

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Today I noticed Dominic Campbell mention Murtaza Abidi's Community Kitchens project. Basically it’s a new take on Meals on Wheels (which is being stopped in a lot of boroughs it seems). Its purpose is to connect those who need help with people in their local community who can provide it. On a daily, weekly or monthly basis, a designated helper might cook a meal for an elderly person down the road, or do an errand, or just visit. It really reminded me of the Collective Kitchen program we developed with Community Services when I worked for Pride through Play in the late 90s.



Pride through Play was a programme in which a pair of workers would provide programmes for children in inner city areas. This would include games, crafts, cooking, homework club, reading and writing skills, drama, etc. We’d work in conjunction with the police and social services to help rebuild these lower income communities that often had problems with drug and alcohol abuse, wife battery, and child neglect.

Though our remit was age 6-12, we actually worked with ages 2 - 18 and the parents of the children as well. It was the hardest job I ever did (especially as a teenager myself), but one of the most rewarding. I helped a family out of an abusive situation after working with the police to stop a suicide when a woman told her abusive husband she was leaving him. I saw a young boy gain unseen before confidence after one of our social workers gave him his first pair of jeans. From that day onward, he could hold his head high when he walked into school. There were lots of things we couldn’t fix - the families disappearing in the night, the dark circles under an eight year olds eyes, the constant hunger, the smell of drugs on children whose parents would hotbox their house, but I felt we gave what we could and more.

As part of that, Collective Kitchens were developed to teach families how to cook healthy meals for very little money. In my unit, we taught kids how to make meals with a couple of cans and dried goods or something fresh if we thought they could get that.

In some of the other areas, they would have food sponsored by local businesses or the local government, and some would be brought by the families themselves depending on how much funding they had. Once a week, we’d gather in a large kitchen and each family would cook enough of a dish to feed the rest of the families there for one meal each. With 5 families cooking together, you’d have 5 different meals for the week that would be put in Tupperware for the freezer. That way you knew you and your kids could eat at least one healthy meal a day. Not only was it building a community, but it was teaching families how to cook cheaply and healthily and left them with a variety of food. The next week, they’d do the same again. The programme was small but successful, and the kids we worked with became happier and healthier - at least to me.

With everything that has happened over the past couple of weeks, I hope programmes like this can and will develop. Even without government funding, a small food budget could be stretched by a few families working together to provide something better for themselves and their families. From someone, like me, who grew up on a council estate, this can make a world of difference.

The London riots hit Clapham and Clapham hits back

It’s hard to believe that anyone hasn’t heard about the London riots. I followed online on Saturday and Sunday - it was scary and angering but it felt far away. On Monday that changed…

View “The London riots hit Clapham and Clapham hits back with #riotcleanup” on Storify

Storify: The London riots hit Clapham and Clapham hits back with #riotcleanup

The best love spam ever

I wouldn’t normally post a spam email but this one was so full of awesome, that I had to share it with the world. Or the 7 people who clicked on the link to get here. So this email is from “Sweet Irina” (though the email address says Kathleen Medford which may or may not be this lady on Facebook. I’m assuming it isn’t)

Anyhow…long story short, here is the email:

Knock Knock Knock..? Is the door of your heart open…? Perhaps you let me come in?

Oh sorry.. I forgot to introduce myself..My name is Irina.   I also love cooking and some other things. My free time depends on my mood, sometimes I like being alone  reading some book or listening to the music, sometimes in a gym or in a small caffee with my friends. But no matter how I feel, no matter what time of the year it is, I always love to be in the nature. Sometimes I think that when all is bad, just look at the sky, at the river, at the trees and I understand that life is beautiful and is not over.

If you got interested in me, write on my mail…

Do you have an email that rivals that? Please stick it on here! If you want to get in contact with Sweet Irina after being wooed by her lovely words, I’ll happily give you her email address.

My love of cookery (and how Nigel Slater won my heart)

On the weekend, I spend a lovely time away with my girlfriends in Leicester. We play badminton on the back lawn, go out for brightly coloured curry and play a game or two sardines. We even watch Simon Pegg’s Paul - the only downside to our weekend away (I’ll have to blog about that another time - I think I still may be too traumatised).

As we are washing mugs after copious cups of tea on Sunday, I spot a copy of Nigel Slater's “The Kitchen Diaries.” Hmm. What's this?

Now I have to admit, I love cookbooks and utensils and cooking vessels of all varieties. I really must be kept away from all kitchen shops (especially Jamie Oliver’s Recipease which is very lovely and very very expensive). This also extends to cookery programs. I’m obsessed with Masterchef Australia (it really is brilliant and ALL the contestants are lovely and so kind to each other. That way it’s all about the food instead of a programme of constant bitching). I even made my mom watch back to back “The Next Iron Chef" episiodes on the Food Network on New Years Day - the whole 8 hour marathon. So whenever I see a cookbook, I have to have to take a look.


Flipping through “The Kitchen Diaries”, you quickly realise this is not just a cookbook but a year in the life of Nigel Slater. Each day he writes what he eats. Sometimes the food he speaks about makes it into recipe format, other times he merely writes a few lines beside a date. There’s even mention of a delivered pizza and another day, it’s a salad that goes wrong.

I barely glance through it and I know I have to buy it. This will be my first Nigel Slater book (and though I’m ashamed to admit it, I don’t even realise the breadth of what he’s done until I start to write this post). As soon as I get off the train in St. Pancras on Sunday, I head into Foyles and buy it for much more than an Amazon purchase would have been. But who cares? I need it. Now.

I’ve only just started reading it (beginning with August of course) but I itch to go back to it every night. What will the next day bring? What food and flowers and sunshine can I expect this month? It’s so refreshing to see that every day isn’t a feast. It’s OK to sometimes have some bread and olives and oil (or get a takeaway). And it’s so personal. Food isn’t only about what’s in the fridge but is can be dictated by your mood, or who you’re with, or even what the weather is like.

Next step, of course, is to start cooking alongside this glorious tome. When I do, I’ll let you know how it goes.

If you want to feel like you’re cooking alongside Nigel Slater too, then you can get your very own copy at your local library or bookshop (who both need the business frankly). If you’re more of a “buy on the Internet” type, you can also buy it from Amazon.