Food Matters helps vulnerable children and young adults become more independent by growing their skills and confidence in the kitchen.

As care leavers, young mums and other young adults move towards independent living, they are not always equipped with the skills, knowledge and confidence to budget their food or cook for themselves.

What We Do

Nourishing Young Minds is the umbrella term for the courses we deliver with with groups of vulnerable people, including children, teenagers, asylum seekers and refugees, care experienced young people, young mums, and people with learning difficulties. 

We deliver cookery sessions that focus on preparing and cooking affordable healthy meals from simple ingredients and using basic equipment.  This is in recognition that many of the people we work with may be living in temporary accommodation with limited facilities. 

We also focus on how our food choices can affect mood and overall physical health. Our sessions understand that food and wellbeing needs a holistic approach so integrate other wellbeing practices such as meditation and breath work. We empower people to make healthier choices for themselves and their families.  

Our courses are engaging and participatory and involve demonstrations, opportunities for questions and coming together socially to share a meal. 

Courses can be flexible dependant on the needs of the group or learning environment. For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic, we talked to young people in Sussex to ask how we can help.  The result? We moved Kitchen Kickstart online with simple, easy to follow cooking videos. 

Following a recipe can be a daunting experience if it’s full of ingredients you’ve not got and if you don’t have confidence in the kitchen. Gaining confidence in the kitchen and being part of a group can be more important than learning cooking skills. 

People are open to trying new things and are eager to learn how to improve their wellbeing. It was inspiring to observe the support offered within the group and peer-learning that came about as a result. 

“The sessions are about more than the food, they’re a lot about independence. They fund food education in schools, so why shouldn’t they do it for people outside of schools, who live alone, who never really have the access to education or family support.”

~ Course participant

Cook along with Kitchen Kickstart on YouTube.

Get In Touch

Reach out to the Food Matters team to find out more about what we do, get involved or to collaborate with us on a future project at [email protected]

Get In Touch

Reach out to the Food Matters team to find out more about what we do, get involved or to collaborate with us on a future project.

Contact Us