Jamie Oliver and Tesco launch online training for community cooks in lockdown

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jamie oliver tesco

The celebrity chef will train 300 cooks working across the UK with food banks or charity kitchens

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has launched online training for community cooks in lockdown to help feed vulnerable groups impacted by the pandemic, in a new phase of his partnership with supermarket giant Tesco.

Oliver, who was signed up by Tesco to help front the retailer’s healthy eating campaign in 2018, will train 300 cooks working across the UK with food banks or charity kitchens.

The scheme aims to show them how to teach families suffering from food poverty how to cook simple, nutritious recipes to feed their children.

Tesco said the community cooks would all teach at least 15 people in their local community how to cook balanced meals, with the aim of reaching more than 4,500 people by May this year.

Oliver first launched a scheme to teach community cooks with Tesco in January 2019, but the supermarket said the new phase of the work was more vital than ever because of the impact of the pandemic.

The free course will see community cooks taught recipes and skills to make the most of the food typically donated to charities, such as tinned food and store cupboard ingredients.

The campaign is also focused on the importance of cooking balanced meals from scratch, by offering ideas and recipes to increase the use of fruit and veg in everyday meals.

Printed lesson plans and recipes will also be available on the training program’s website

“Now more than ever, nutrition is so important – and small additions or swaps can make a big difference,” said Sue Couter, community programme and charities manager at Tesco .

“The community cooks we work with are incredible lifelines to their communities, and it’s our great privilege to support them in the best way we know how – by passing on our knowledge,” added Katherine Hale, food education manager at Jamie Oliver Group. “This past year has shown all of us how important eating well is and sharing our skills with those who can make a difference to hundreds of others is an incredibly powerful thing.”

FareShare CEO Lindsay Boswell said: “These sessions will help these community cooks pass their knowledge on to families in their communities and will have a direct benefit in providing nutritious, hot meals to vulnerable people.”