Starts WEDNESDAY 17 FEBRUARY
Tag: healthy eating
Cookarama!
New cooking group starts on Tuesday
New Year, new cooking group
Kick off the New Year with Cookarama!
Cook tasty, affordable family meals in a friendly setting
Tuesdays 10am – 12 noon from 12 January
at Pilton Community Health Project, Boswall Parkway
Free Creche (must be booked in advance)
To book your place contact JOE or MEMES at Pilton Community Health Project, telephone 551 1671 or email admin@pchp.org.uk
New Tuesday cooking flyer Jan 2016
It’s Power of Food Festival weekend!
It’s here! Edinburgh’s community gardeners take centre stage this weekend as The Power of Food Festival takes place at venues and locations across the city.
For further info visit https://poweroffoodfestival.wordpress.com/
Power of Food Festival is fast approaching …
North Edinburgh plays a major part in this month’s Power of Food Festival with events and activities in Blackhall, Drylaw, Granton, Leith, Muirhouse and the Botanics to name just a few …! 
Hello everyone!
It’s an amazing privilege to be in a position today to launch the programme of Edinburgh’s first Power of Food Festival, only five and a half months after we decided to turn the original idea into a reality. It’s been a bit of a mad time getting everything in place, but really exhilarating to see it all coming together thanks to the efforts of a wide range of individuals keen to share their resources, skills, energy and passion. And how appropriate to be launching such an initiative on Volunteers Week! Volunteers are at the heart of community food growing and of the centre of the Festival.
We look forward to seeing you in one (or several!) of the 15 gardens of the Festival on 20-21 June and hope you enjoy the celebration!
Best wishes from
The Power of Food Festival Committee
Rebecca Crowther
Christine Giraud
Marie-Amélie Viatte
After months of preparation, The Power of Food Festival is pleased to announce an exciting programme of free events organised by each venue in line with what they do best: connecting people!
From well established award winning gardens, to new grassroot food growing projects, the diversity of the initiatives which feature in the programme will surprise and delight Festival goers. Venues open on the weekend of 20 and 21 June include a library, an office block, a secret garden, and a farmhouse which is undergoing an incredible transformation!
A citywide celebration
From Portobello to Wester Hailes, Granton to Blackhall, Tollcross to Old Dalkeith Road, and many others in between, every corner of Edinburgh will have a garden celebrating the joy of community food growing. There will be a rich menu of events suited for every taste, for children and adults alike, including: children’s poetry writing, bug hunting, storytelling and sharing, choir music, conversations on nature, food and sustainability, wind band, foraging, cooking and eating, as well as practical gardening workshops, and the launch of Edible Edinburgh Food Charter of a Sustainable Food City.
In association with Sustrans, visitors can also join in a guided bike tour of the
gardens (free but ticketed). Bookings can be made online.
Whether on foot or on two wheels, visitors can plan their Festival trip and keep up to date with the latest events and information via The Power of Food Festival website (details below).
A Festival for everyone
Why not invite your friends and family to take part in the first Edinburgh Power of Food Festival? The weekend will give everyone a chance to meet people in their local community, to join those who are transforming the city landscape everyday, and to give a deeper meaning to the word ‘community’. Maybe it will be the beginning of a great adventure: who knows where The Power of Food will take you?
The full programme of events can be accessed here: PoF Programme
Come with family and friends to The Power of Food Festival
Celebrating community food growing and local change makers
summer solstice weekend 20-21 June
W: poweroffoodfestival.wordpress.
Twitter @PoFFest FacebookEdinburghPowerofFoodFestival
Community recipe book launched in Muirhouse
Cook & Taste is tried and tested – and temptingly tasty too!
It was a full house at Muirhouse Community Shop for the launch of Pilton Community Health Project’s brand new, hot-off-the-press Cook and Taste recipe book yesterday.
Customers, gourmets and curious guests packed the place out and the icing on the cake was a selection of songs from North Edinburgh’s very own Timebank Temptations.
Special mention to the star of the day Kai Crozier (who is 4 and a half). Wee Kai (below) was the Chief Taster during the preparation of the recipe book and yesterday added the role of Master of Ceremonies to his list of duties, keeping order during the speeches!
The recipe book is packed with recipes brought by local people to the shop for PCHP staff to cook with them – they are tried and tested, and they’re delicious! Pick up a free copy from the community shop or Pilton Community Health Project on Boswall Parkway, or download it at http://pchp.org.uk/resources/cook-and-taste-recipe-book
Some images:
There are more images on our Facebook page too …
Community recipe book launches this week
Good, healthy recipes produced by local cooks
Everyone’s invited to the launch of the community Cook and Taste recipe book at Muirhouse Community Shop, Pennywell Road on Wednesday from 111am – 1pm!.
We’ll be cooking and giving free delicious tasters, recipe books and information about food related activities in the area. The Time Bank Temptations Choir will also be performing on the day.
All the recipes in the book have been tried, tasted and have proved really successful. “This is good and really tasty. I will try to make it at home”, said Joan, one of the community shop volunteers when she tried the ragu Bolognese. Susan, one of the local volunteers who decided to share her macaroni cheese recipe said: “It’s lovely; quick and easy to cook in the house”.
The recipes in this book come from a partnership project between Pilton Community Heatlh Project (PCHP) and the Muirhouse Community Shop (MCS).
Memes Molina, Food Development Worker at PCHP, said “It’s been a great opportunity to work in partnership with the shop’s volunteers, to do some cooking with local people and discover new recipes with them. This launch is to celebrate the effort and commitment of everyone involved. For some of the volunteers it has been a while since they last cooked at home but people got involved and shared their delicious dishes. PCHP has put together a recipe book called Cook and Taste, where we can now share a selection of these recipes with the local community.”
PCHP’s Food team works with volunteers and local partners to help local people develop their understanding and knowledge to eat well on a budget, including cooking skills, budgeting, meal planning and wider food issues.
PCHP does this by running cooking sessions, lots of ‘cook and taste’ sessions in the community, delivering ‘bite size’ sessions on eating well and much more. People can get involved by joining one of the groups, becoming a volunteer or attending Food for Thought Forum meetings.
PCHP also gives the local community access to food related training courses to develop their skills. We are now able to support others to deliver quick and easy healthy eating sessions using our nutrition toolkit.
http://pchp.org.uk/projects/food
The partnership work between PCHP and MCS started as way to promote healthy eating in the area, in response to the needs of some local people and the shop volunteers.
Everyone can come along to the launch. If you want more information about PCHP activities or other food related activities in North Edinburgh, phone PCHP on 013 551 1671 or visit the website.
Cookery classes at Craigie
One Parent Families Scotland are planning cookery classes for single mums and dads and the kids at Craigroyston Community High School.
The classes will run on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (10am-12.30pm) from 7 – 16 April.
If you would like to improve your cooking skills while learning how to cook nutritious meals on a budget, contact Tom Carroll on 07814 078139 or email: tom.carroll@opfs.org.uk
The lifestyle quiz that helps you save …
How much money could you save by turning your thermostat down by 1°C, or not leaving your electrical appliances on standby? How much electricity can you save by washing your clothes at 30°C?
Answer correctly and you could cut £155 or more off your energy bills, and have a chance to win £100 or £50 in gift vouchers, in a prize draw being run by Home Energy Scotland.
The answers are among five useful tips included in a quiz leaflet, ‘Your chance to win – and reduce your energy bills.’
Watch out for the leaflet in Council mailings or call Home Energy Scotland free for a copy on 0808 808 2282.
Jill Fenton, Manager at Home Energy Scotland advice centre in the South East said “This quiz shows how easy it is for people to make simple changes to save energy, reduce their fuel bills and cut their carbon emissions. It’s a fun way to help people to remember.”
Home Energy Scotland is funded by the Scottish Government to offer free, impartial advice on making your home cheaper to heat. For in-depth advice on how to reduce your energy bills or become more energy efficient, freephone Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282 or text WARM to 81025.
Nikki, a young mum of two, who called Home Energy Scotland said “If I had a friend who needed help with heating their home or paying their energy bills, I’d say call Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282 and find out what they can do to help”
Edinburgh’s school cooks are top of the class
The City of Edinburgh Council has become the first council in Scotland to achieve the Soil Association’s Bronze Food for Life Catering Mark award for all its schools.
The award-winning menus feature even more freshly prepared meals, made with seasonal and local produce as well as only farm-assured meat and free range eggs.
The three organisations that cater for Edinburgh’s schools – the Council’s in-house catering service, Amey and Chartwells – have been working with Soil Association Scotland for several months to ensure that all school menus across the city meet the bronze standards. This ensures dishes contain no harmful additives and that at least 75% of dishes are freshly prepared.
The bronze award comes at an important time for school food in Edinburgh, with free school meals for P1 – P3 pupils having just been launched and school meal uptake higher than for many years.
Councillor Paul Godzik, Education Convener, said: “It’s so important for our young people to learn about how food relates to issues such as health, the economy and our environment.
“Schools in Edinburgh are already working hard to achieve this and the Food for Life Catering Mark award helps demonstrate the vital role cooks can play in helping pupils understand the importance of good food.
“The bronze award is a fantastic achievement, and I think it’s important to note that this has been delivered in conjunction with the service delivering a free school meal to P1-3s. Not only are we delivering free school meal to our youngest pupils, but a better school meal to all our pupils.”
Councillor Lesley Hinds, Environment Convener, added: “Achieving the Bronze Food for Life Catering Mark award for Edinburgh’s school food is an important way for us to reassure parents and pupils that school food providers in the city care deeply about the quality of the service they offer.
“I think there truly is no better option for lunch than a nutritionally-balanced school meal, and our cooks can be proud of serving fresh, tasty food to young people across the city.”
Soil Association Scotland’s Director, Laura Stewart said: “Achieving the Food for Life Catering Mark award across all Edinburgh schools has been a challenge for everybody involved, but what an achievement it is.
“How fantastic to think that every morning, in schools across the capital, hundreds of cooks are freshly preparing tens of thousands of meals using quality produce, helping to ensure that Edinburgh’s young people can benefit from fresh, tasty and nutritious food at school.”