Tesco has announced a new £5m partnership with the Children’s Food Trust to expand the charity’s network of children’s cooking clubs.
The charity helps children eat a balanced diet, partly by offering advice and support, and partly by providing food in schools. It runs ‘Let’s Get Cooking’, the UK’s biggest network of school cooking clubs. The network operates in 3,000 schools, and Tesco funding will allow it to operate in another 1,000. So far almost 2m children and parents have attended.
Tesco currently run an Eat Happy Project, which also aims to improve healthy eating among children, and the £5m funding will come from this project's budget. The funding will cover the next two years.
The new clubs will be concentrated in disadvantaged areas with a high proportion of low income families, where “improving cooking skills can have the greatest impact for children”.
The Children’s Food Trust’s Let’s Get Cooking programme has established a network of 3,000 primary and special schools clubs in England, and so far helped almost 2m children and parents improve their cooking skills. The charity was originally established seven years ago with £20m of investment from the Big Lottery Fund.
Linda Cregan, chief executive of the Children’s Food Trust, said: “If we want children in the UK to eat better, we have to give them the skills they need to cook - and companies like Tesco can have enormous influence to make that happen so we’re thrilled to be working with them.
“This funding is an incredible opportunity to give many more children the chance to make that connection between where food comes from and the meal on a plate, and to grow our army of inspirational cooking club champions right across the UK.”
Josh Hardie, corporate responsibility director for Tesco, said: “The Tesco Eat Happy Project is our long-term commitment to help the next generation have a happier and healthier relationship with their food. A crucial part of this means giving children the tools they need to make better decisions about what they put on their plates when they grow up.
“We’re thrilled to be supporting Let’s Get Cooking clubs – it means we can reach as many children as possible, creating a real legacy for cooking skills in this country.”
