Handy guide to... running a community chef project - Kent Trust Web

After attending cooking courses there were improvements in healthy eating knowledge
and behaviour with more people:
reading food labels
eating a healthy diet
cooking and using recipes
For more information please see the Community Chef Evaluation Report.
What we learnt
Food Partnerships were important in driving the project forward but natural wastage
meant the partnerships did reduce leaving a burden on existing members. New
members need to be recruited to ensure the partnerships maintain momentum.
Labelling the cookery courses as healthy eating could be off-putting to some
participants.
The personality of the two chefs was the most important factor in the success of the
cooking courses.
Getting families to cook together was a particularly effective way to get healthy
eating messages across.
Participants were disappointed when the course was over and wanted an
opportunity to continue attending longer term. The chefs felt a solution would be to
offer follow-up courses, or create a permanent cooking base in the communities (i.e.
a community food hub) which would provide a central focus for food and cooking in
the communities where people could interact with chefs and get involved in cooking
as and when they wanted.
Top tips
Allow plenty of time to plan a community chef project and set up a Food Partnership.
Funding needs to last longer than a year to enable chefs to have the capacity to set
up long term cookery clubs and train volunteers.
Be as clear as possible with partners at the outset about expectations and what
involvement in partnerships will entail.