News: Jamie's Ministry of Food reopens in Rotherham

Jamie's Ministry of Food has reopened in Rotherham town centre offering friendly cooking classes where anybody can learn to cook healthy and tasty meals on a budget, improving diet, skills, health and confidence.

The Rotherham centre was the first in the country when it opened in 2008 as part of Jamie Oliver's TV series and remained open with the help of £130,000 a year from Rotherham Council. It became a social enterprise in 2010, enabling it to achieve financial stability and to bid for funding.

The All Saints Square premises closed "temporarily" last summer amid health and safety concerns but it has recently undergone a refresh after being taken over by Leeds-based charity, Zest - Health for Life.

Jamie chose Rotherham because the town had one of the highest levels of obesity in the UK back in 2007, and is delighted the centre has reopened with funding from Rotherham Borough Council to carry on the good work.

In a message to the staff he said: "It's so brilliant we have finally reopened in Rotherham city in the community where it all started six years ago. It's incredible guys! The Ministry of Food in Rotherham is as important as it's ever been."

To celebrate, respected chef and the man Jamie Oliver describes as his "Italian father", Gennaro Contaldo opened the centre and gave a cookery demonstration with the Mayor of Rotherham. He shared a few tips on cooking for a family on a budget while cooking up a simple tomato pasta for the crowd.

Joanna Saunders, head of health improvement at Rotherham Council, said: "We are delighted to see the centre reopening and getting back on track addressing health inequalities in Rotherham. Results from Leeds' Ministry of Food show significant improvements in key health indicators and we expect participants in Rotherham to benefit from weight loss, healthier lifestyles and increased confidence to cook from scratch."

Jamie's Ministry of Food website
Zest website

Images: Jamie's Ministry of Food / Facebook

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News: Rotherham Ministry of Food has the recipe for success

The Ministry of Food in Rotherham town centre is going strong three years after being established by celebrity chef and healthy food campaigner Jamie Oliver.

The project is now a social enterprise, a not-for-profit organisation, that is still supported by the chef and his team as well as Rotherham Borough Council, the NHS and Voluntary Action Rotherham.

The centre in All Saints' Square has launched a number of income-generating projects including children's birthday parties and Summer Cook Clubs.

A recent event saw the team put on a comprehensive programme of cookery at the new Curry's Megastore's state-of-the-art kitchen at Parkgate.

In collaboration with Rotherham College's catering department, local chefs and suppliers, the Ministry of Food held cookery sessions, demonstrations, tastings as well as master classes.

"We are always looking at ways to expand our business," said Jan Davies, manager of the Ministry of Food. "So it was wonderful when we were approached by Curry's to organise events in their new amazing kitchen. They have also kindly donated electrical equipment to be used as prizes for our third birthday party next month."

On Wednesday, August 17, the project will be holding a fun day in Rotherham's All Saints Square with cooking demonstrations and activities for children.

Jan added: "The MoF is thriving - a real recipe for success. Financially we are independent and all our income comes from the fees we charge, income we earn through food sales and any funding grants we attract.

"However, our vision continues to try and make Rotherham and South Yorkshire a healthier place to live. We can do this by showing children and adults how to cook healthy, tasty meals, quickly, simply and economically, using fresh, seasonal ingredients from local suppliers.

"We work closely with the NHS promoting the benefits of healthy eating, working particularly with people who live in some of the poorest areas in the country. We can help to transform peoples' lives because eating more healthily really does improves health and wellbeing.

"We also work closely with schools, children's' centres, community groups and businesses in Rotherham and throughout the county providing fun cooking sessions in easy, bite-size chunks."

The scheme also offers volunteering opportunities and work experience placements for secondary school students and people wanting to enhance their CV and improve their employability.

Ministry of Food website

Images: mofrotherham.co.uk

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News: Ministry of Food in Rotherham could be a victim of funding cuts

Celebrity chef and healthy-eating campaigner, Jamie Oliver fears that the Ministry of Food in Rotherham town centre could be a victim of funding cuts.

The centre, in All Saints' Square , opened in 2008 as part of Oliver's TV series and remained open with the help of £130,000 a year from Rotherham Council.

Last year, the centre taught 6,500 people how to cook using fresh ingredients. These included everyone from firemen to teachers, care-home workers to school kids - when the centre put up a poster in the window advertising summer holiday classes for kids, the places were filled within 24 hours. Classes are consistently booked out for months in advance.

In a bid to help with cashflow, plans have been submitted to enable the unit to operate as a cafe at lunch time and a cookery school in the mornings and afternoons. New signage and a seating area is also proposed.

Similar centres have been replicated in Bradford and Leeds and Oliver is now urging on businesses to get involved and support the local centres as public sector funding dries up.

He said: "I've heard that the Ministry in Rotherham could be a victim of funding cuts. The local council there is doing everything it can to keep the Ministry open and I hope it will succeed but I can't understand why keeping it open should even be in doubt at all.

"Each Ministry of Food Centre is booked up at least three months in advance so the demand is there. It's abundantly clear that this is one of the few strategies that is actually working that helps people overcome their problems with food.

"I understand that cuts need to be made. I understand that these are difficult times. But I can't understand why something that can save billions of pounds in the long term can be at risk because of a few million quid. In my opinion, cutting the funding for local projects which directly empower and transform thousands of lives is both foolhardy and a false economy, particularly in a country which is spending billions on obesity-related diseases.

"So here's the plea. If the local councils can't afford to set up and keep running these inspiring, revolutionary, socially vital places, then it's up to local businesses to get involved.

"I'm talking to businessmen and women up and down the country - some of them in charge of huge multi-national companies, some of them running smaller but successful local firms. All of them appreciate the need to do something about our obesity problem and all of them also understand that being involved with a community project like a Ministry of Food centre, is good for business."

Jamie Oliver website

Images: jamieoliver.com

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News: Rotherham supports Jamie's Ministry of Food initiative

Rotherham is to continue to support Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food for another year. The joint announcement by Rotherham Borough Council and NHS Rotherham comes after the final programme of the series was shown this week. A package of funding totalling £125,000 has been secured to continue the educational and healthy eating work begun six months ago at the Ministry of Food in the town centre at All Saints Square. Grants from the Department of Health, Local Authority Business Growth Initiatives (LABGI) scheme and funds from NHS Rotherham has enabled the project to run for another 12 months. Council Leader, Councillor Roger Stone said: "Rotherham has been put in the national spotlight and has great ambition for the future. We want the town to be a place of success, investment is high and jobs have been created - and I, for one, want that drive to spread to important matters such as food. Rotherham has pioneered this approach and what better endorsement could there be than to see other parts of the country be as bold as we have been in supporting healthy eating by setting up food centres." Under the continuation package, the funding will cover the operational costs of running of the Ministry of Food building, the continued employment of two members of staff and volunteer costs as well as the food used to cook.

Jamie's Ministry of Food Rotherham website

Rotherham

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News: Jamie's Ministry of Food Rotherham gets Bramall cooking

Colleagues at Bramall Construction are tasting the benefits of their involvement in Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food programme, which aired for the final time last night. Fifty staff from the Rotherham-based social housing specialist have been involved in the celebrity chef’s campaign in the town to get people cooking and eating healthily. Bramall’s involvement in the healthy eating campaign started in June when staff attended the ‘pass it on’ mass cookery class at Rotherham’s Magna centre. They were taught to make a stir fry dish and encouraged to share the recipe with at least one other person. Oliver has since visited Bramall’s head office to pass his cooking expertise on to six colleagues in a class which was also broadcast on the Channel 4 show. Staff say the campaign will leave lasting benefits, with many employees now cooking regularly for the first time in their lives. Bramall Construction has invested in a new hob for the canteen in its head office in Wath and Bramall’s PA Natalie Hare said: "People have been brought together for the classes who might not otherwise have met up. We’ve had a variety of people both from site and from the office and we’ve also encouraged new starters to participate. "The responses we have received have been really positive – especially from staff who had never really cooked before. We had a couple of men who had never cooked at home and have since gone home and cooked for their wives."
Bramall website
Rotherham

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News: Jamie's Ministry of Food Rotherham leads to top job for catering student

Big Hospitality reports that a catering student at a Rotherham college has been given a job at Jamie Oliver's restaurant, Fifteen, in London. Michael Poulton and fellow hospitality and catering students at Rotherham College of Arts and Technology assisted Oliver’s food team during the filming of Jamie's Ministry of Food over the summer. Securing himself a trial with head chef at the London restaurant, Andrew Parkinson, Poulton impressed so much he was hired as the kitchen’s new Commis Chef, and began work after completing his final qualification. Nick Crofts-Smith, Head of Catering and Hospitality at RCAT, told Big Hospitality: "Jamie was instrumental in getting him a job. I think he’d have done well but in our industry doors open by people that you meet. It was really about saying to Jamie, ‘are there any jobs?’ "Michael was a great student, he always wanted to go and further his skills and look into other areas. He researched a lot, was very committed and had good craft skills, but needed that break to see it. He wanted to get a good job and he worked hard and he put the effort in with Jamie."

RCAT website
Big Hospitality article
Rotherham

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News: Rotherham firm creates eco-kitchen for TV chef Jamie

Jamie Oliver's latest project in Rotherham has officially launched in the town centre. The chef cut the ribbon at his Ministry of Food in All Saints' Square yesterday. Rotherham firm, Atrium Designs Ltd, were asked to create the eco-friendly kitchen for the shop as they have previously designed, manufactured, fitted and supplied a range of bespoke kitchens, individually designed using the latest computer software and manufactured to the highest standards. The TV chef will adopt techniques used by the Ministry of Food in wartime Britain to advise people on how to feed their families. He will be filmed in the kitchen alongside a team of local volunteers.

The Star article

Atrium Design website

Rotherham

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News: Jamie's Ministry of Food

TV Chef, Jamie Oliver is looking to recruit a food centre manager at the Ministry of Food Rotherham. Part-time staff, and volunteers are also needed to run his food centre in All Saints' Square. The first of its kind, the Ministry of Food aims to be used to offer recipes and cooking advice and to host food-related events. Jamie told The Star: "I want a solid cook, not a chef, who is enthusiastic and good with people to become the centre's full-time manager. "Filming Ministry of Food will hopefully start something in Rotherham that will continue long after we've gone." For further details contact mofmanager@jamieoliver.com The latest edition of the Rotherham town centre update includes a feature on Jamie Oliver along with information on Renaissance projects, town centre events, public art and safety schemes.
The Star article
Rotherham town centre update
Rotherham town talk website
Rotherham

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News: Jamie joins Rotherham High Street but slump in retail sector hits home

Rotherham welcomed celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver to the retail sector last night as he opened a base for his new TV show. Jamie's Ministry of Food, Rotherham is the first in the UK and crowds in the town heard his plans to transform the town’s cooking and eating habits and make Rotherham the food capital of the North. The new series will see the 32-year old TV star teaching recipes to eight local volunteers, who in turn will then teach the recipes to others. The temporary shop will be used as an advice centre and provide the opportunity for those that can cook, and those that can't, to come together. Rotherham has been hit by the slump in the retail sector seen accross the country. Sports retailer, JJB has closed their town centre store and it remains unclear if it will be rebranded under the "Original Shoe Company" brand. Discount clothing retailer, Ethel Austin has entered administration but the Rotherham store remains trading as a potential buyer for the chain is sought. Recently the Icelandic investors, Baugur are looking to sell their struggling Mk One chain.
Rotherham Town Talk website

Rotherham

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