First Thaw Your Olive Oil — the ‘book’ is here!
Just over a month ago I committed to pulling together some of my recipes into a compilation, downloadable in aid of the charity Fareshare UK, and asked if anyone else would like to contribute. I’m delighted to say that quite a few people did and you will find a link to the result a little further down this page.
Before I say more about the recipes, let me say a bit more about Fareshare, and about hunger in the UK. I am ashamed to say that I hadn’t heard of them before Marcus Rashford began his campaign for children in receipt of free school meals to have access to vouchers when the schools are closed. The charity was originally established in 1994 under the auspices of Crisis, and became independent in 2004. They now operate across the whole of England, through 21 regional centres and 1500 volunteers, and support almost a million people every week. They distribute surplus food donated by retailers and other food businesses to individuals and families in need via almost 11,000 local charities.
Despite the fact that over 8 million people in the UK — the equivalent of the population of London — struggle to afford to eat properly, WRAP estimates that over 1.9 million tonnes of food is wasted every year by the food industry — so that doesn’t even include the food we waste in our own homes.
According to Fullfact, about 14.3 million people are living in poverty in the UK. A shocking 34% of children are living in poverty. And this is not just about unemployment. About 70% of children in low income families are living in a family where at least one person works. We know that Covid-19 is having a significant impact on the economy, and it’s very likely that these figures will go up in the months to come.
As most people know now, Marcus Rashford was a child living in poverty despite his mother’s work. This is an extract from Fareshare’s website:
His own family relied on breakfast clubs, free school meals, the “kind actions of neighbours and coaches”, and at times, food banks and soup kitchens. Raised by his mum Mel, who worked full time earning minimum wage to get a good meal on the table, it was often not enough. As Marcus explains: “the system was not built for families like mine to succeed, regardless of how hard my mum worked.”
All too aware of just how vulnerable millions of families across the UK are to falling into hardship — and how the crisis and imminent school closures could exacerbate the issue — the England and Manchester United player acted quickly. Marcus partnered with FareShare and made several significant financial donations to help ensure children usually eligible for free school meals could continue to access good food via FareShare, as well as calling on his millions of followers to donate and support too.
Marcus’ support of FareShare has been transformational for the charity. Since March 2020, Marcus has:
· Helped raise enough money to enable FareShare to provide enough food for over 4.2 million meals for children and families who might not otherwise eat during the crisis
· Raised awareness of child hunger in the UK, driving the issue to the top of the news agenda
· Successfully influenced government policy with his #MakeTheUTurn campaign, which saw the voucher scheme — a replacement for free school meals through the lockdown — extended over the summer, ensuring 1.3 million vulnerable children could continue to access food
· Launched and spearheaded the Child Food Poverty Taskforce, a group of more than 15 organisations that FareShare is a founding member of, which have come together to support the National Food Strategy and dedicate their platforms to sharing real stories of those affected by child food insecurity in the UK, supported by real-time statistics
Marcus and FareShare have come together to help tackle childhood hunger in the UK, and we are very grateful for his support.
I have never lived in poverty. I have never had to wonder where my next meal would come from, or to give up my own meal so that a child could eat. I’m not unduly wasteful in my cooking, but I’m certainly conscious that I can use ingredients which are beyond the reach of many families, and the cost of a night out (when we can do that again) would pay for a week’s food — if not more — for many people. I enjoy my food and wine, and I enjoy sharing them with others. I hope that through compiling and sharing these recipes, I can make a small contribution to redressing the balance, and I thank you for your help in that.
The link to the PDF of First Thaw Your Olive Oil is here:
And you can donate to Fareshare via my Justgiving page here:
I have kept them separate so you can download the recipes without donating — or indeed donate without downloading — but I hope you’ll do both.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed a recipe, and everyone who has encouraged me to keep going cooking and tweeting over the last few months. It’s been a joy to share my kitchen with you.
