Let’s Keep Cooking Together

Let’s Cook Together, the School’s latest outreach initiative headed up by culinary mastermind Jennie Hatton, Head of Food Technology, and wonder woman Natasha Coccia, Assistant Head: Partnerships and Outreach, is going from strength to strength.

Our neighbours, Waverley Prep School in Wokingham and Hemdean House in Caversham, plus our Quaker friends at Sibford School in Banbury are the latest to jump on board with the project and help get families cooking together.

“A perfect way to start the week; working together at a lonely time and encouraging students to cook […] They were so easy to make and tasted yummy” commented Sibford School’s Head of Food Tech, Emma Crocker.

Alongside our own students and staff, keen to share their enthusiasm have been Old Leightonians and 26 families connected to local organisation, Whitley CDA. Each week, a selection of fresh and store-cupboard ingredients, cake tins with recipe and nutritional information is being carefully packed up for the families to enjoy. Today, the Old Leightonian and Archives Team, alongside Matthew Judd, Head, Cathy, Receptionist, Jennie and her son, made short work of preparing the bags.

Penny, Alumni Relationships Manager, commented “For me and the other volunteers, it’s all about community and helping one another, at the heart of LP. Baking as a family and of course, then sharing and eating the yummy things you’ve made is a great feeling; if this can make a positive difference to someone’s day or Jennie’s videos teach some really useful new skills, that’s a few hours of our time well spent. I just hope the eggs survived the trip in their mini air bags we improvised!”

Now in its third week, the community have baked cherry, chocolate and coconut tray bakes, chocolate fudge crinkle biscuits and easy fruitcake, as well as having followed a mini-series of informative ‘how to’ videos. The scrumptious recipes involve store cupboard ingredients and are simple to follow, yet also aim to progress cooking skills over the successive weeks and develop practical knowledge to last a lifetime.

Speaking about the inspiration behind the initiative, Jennie reflected “We were trying to think of something that would support vulnerable families during this difficult time. One of the things that has been reported is that people have been cooking more, especially baking. I wanted to find a way of helping families to join in with cooking and to feel a sense of achievement. Just giving someone food is not always enough, also just giving someone a recipe is not helpful, I wanted to fully support them, so they felt that we were on their side, helping and encouraging them.”

“I am hoping that it will let them know how much we care about them.” She continued, “That they will feel supported and cared for. I want them to know that we value them, that we are trying to bring them some joy, even from a distance.”

Inspired by Let’s Cook Together, students are now also submitting their own recipes to be shared with our close partner, Lingstone Tanzania Trust. Set up by Old Leighton, Julian Page, the charity is currently creating a cookbook that will be sold to raise funds and help people unlock their potential, overcome poverty and live long happy and healthy lives.

To find out more about the initiate listen to Jennie chat to BBC Radio Berkshire about Let’s Cook Together.

Check out the series on YouTube and share your bakes or request written recipe details on Twitter @LPPartnerships or by email at [email protected].