Fresh Soups and Salads

Target Wellbeing: Fresh Soups and Salads project

The (Fresh) Soups and Salads Project was designed to enable local people to prepare and cook tasty family dishes using vegetables grown primarily in Burnley. The particular theme of soups and salads was chosen in order to maximise the consumption of locally grown and seasonal vegetables rather than other ingredients.

Although primarily a cooking skills project, it also introduced participants to the health and financial benefits of ‘Growing your Own’ and/or of buying locally produced food. The project developed valuable partnerships with community growing schemes. When devising the structure of the project, Burnley Food Links was anxious to address the huge skills and knowledge gap regarding ‘what to do with vegetables’.

The government Five-a –Day campaign and School Fruit Scheme had successfully raised the profile and publicised the essential health benefits of eating more fruit and vegetables. However, it was our observation that many people still lacked the ability to make tasty and appealing dishes using vegetables. There was a particular lack of knowledge regarding those vegetables which grow well in Lancashire but do not necessarily appear in the shops and supermarkets which people from deprived areas have access to.

Interesting recipes were therefore devised to incorporate fresh beetroot, broad beans, kale, swiss chard, brussel sprouts etc. An attractive Soups and Salads Recipe File, featuring an appropriate soups and salad recipe for every month of the year was produced as a legacy of the project and was given to all participants. Jenny Slaughter/Project Manager

Reports

Project flyer

Sponsor

Target: Wellbeing aims to help people achieve healthier and happier lives. It’s a programme of over 90 projects that increase exercise, encourage healthier eating and promote mental wellbeing. Funded by £8.9m from the National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund, it’s managed by Groundwork for the benefit of targeted disadvantaged communities across the Northwest.