Kitchen on the move promotes healthy food

South West residents are getting “back to basics” aboard Jamie’s Ministry of Food West Australian mobile kitchen which has parked up at Edith Cowan University Bunbury for the next five weeks.

Mobile kitchen manager Marie Fitzpatrick said after a successful first visit last year, the mobile kitchen had returned to reignite participants’ passion to cook from scratch with fresh ingredients.

“This program is all about getting back to basics and just inspiring people to get back in the kitchen,” she said.

“For some people it is brand new to be in the kitchen and cook for themselves, but for others it just may be to re-engage that inspiration.”

Mrs Fitzpatrick said the classes explored a different country’s cuisine each week and described the course as a “pass it on” program.

“Whatever we teach people in class, we encourage them to go out and teach four people in their lives,” she said.

“If everyone passes it on to four people, we start to spread the word about good eating and good health.”

Michael Stephenson took the course with his eldest son Patrick last year and has returned this year with his 12-year-old son Jacob now that he is old enough to join in.

“It was great seeing Patrick enjoy being in the kitchen so much and he has continued that passion of cooking to this day, so I wanted to share that with Jacob this year,” he said.

“It’s a good way for us to get together, because these days they usually just want to sit in their bedrooms and do their own thing.

“My wife loves the healthy recipes we can cook up and we have a bit of a competitive edge going on now with who can cook the best dishes.

“The instructors are so enthusiastic it’s difficult to not come away from it and think ‘yes I want to be in the kitchen, I want to be creating’ and they just give you the confidence to do it.”

Find out more information about the course at www.jamiesministryoffood.com.au.