Teaching teens to cook

A County Durham youth organisation is helping young people whip up healthy meals, supported by funding from believe housing.

Durham Area Youth’s How Long Does It Take Project is teaching 11 to 16-year-olds how to cook.

Meeting every Monday at Jubilee Hall in West Rainton, participants learn how to make a new recipe each week.

They choose what they cook and learn about healthy eating habits, the impact of fast food, and how different foods affect our bodies.

The sessions also teach young people how to use basic kitchen equipment, with learning shared through fact-or-fiction questions and practical activities.

Once the project ends, regular attendees will get a cookbook of the recipes they have learned throughout the year.

Amy Hollins, a Senior Youth Worker for Durham Area Youth helps to run the sessions.

“It’s important to teach young people cooking skills and about healthy eating as these are skills that they will need for the rest of their lives,” said Amy.

“We have some young people who want to go into food related careers or become chefs. So, this is our way of trying to help them reach that goal and provide as many opportunities as we can for them.

“Their independence has massively improved, they’ll start telling the staff how to make things and their preferred way of making food. It’s really nice to see as they’ll be going back and using these skills at home, so what they learn here is transferrable.”

Funding from believe housing’s community investment programme has helped to support the How Long Does It Take project. After receiving initial funding of £999.50 for two free summer holiday activities, a community grant just under £10,000 supported Durham Area Youth with running costs such as ingredients, staff time and venue hire. The grant also covers production costs of the end of project cookbook.

Kimberley Smith, a Community Investment Coordinator at believe housing, said: “Developing cooking skills and learning about healthy eating is a great way to help people look after their health at home and build positive habits in their daily lives.

“We’re happy to see how our funding is helping the How Long Does It Take project make a difference to young people in West Rainton, supporting them to grow in confidence in the kitchen and enjoy positive activity in their community.”