Vital Meals was set up by Ayesha Pakravan-Ovey BEM on the 18th of March 2020 in an emergency response to the pandemic. Initially a small operation providing just 10 meals a week, the initiative grew to delivering over 1,000 meals a week with a final total of over 26,000 meals. Now, as we draw our free meal delivery service to a close, we are seeking funding on Spacehive to launch our cookery school. Our school will provide the education so crucially needed for our recipients (young and old) to nourish themselves when our free Vital Meals are no longer here. This is the lasting legacy we hope Vital Meals will leave behind. Our overall mission for the school is simple: We run cookery classes for children and young adults to arm them with confidence in a kitchen & the knowledge to cook healthy, nutritional meals for themselves & their families.

What we'll deliver:

• Install ovens, hob & additional equipment needed
• Expand our cookery classes to other communities across London
• Run a minimum of 3 cooking classes per week (10 attendees per session)
• Offer paid work experience in our team, for young adults interested in a career within food
• Provide a space, within our kitchen in Brixton, for families to eat around our collective table

Why it's a great idea:

Having provided over 26,000 free meals in the past year, we have reached a point where we are now looking at the legacy Vital Meals will leave behind. The saying "give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime" could not be more relevant at this moment. Through our cooking school, we want to be able to change the mindsets and attitudes that many people in our communities have around food and show them that they can live a healthy and affordable life, with a small amount of fundamental education. We want to help those that rely on our free meals to learn how to cater for themselves and how to nourish themselves for the rest of their lives, should Vital Meals no longer be here to do so and to show people the benefits (and enjoyment) that come from a healthy lifestyle.

Steps to get it done:

• 400 cooking classes provided
• 2,000 free meals provided
• 4 apprenticeships (1 per month)
• 8 Sunday Lunch clubs successfully delivered (2 per month)

The classes will be broken down in to three key areas: Activities Club: Our informal drop in, drop out sessions for children and adults to get a flavour of cooking without any ongoing commitment. These sessions will be broken down in to age groups and will offer a fun, informal introduction to cooking. Skills Development: A 6 week programme offering both children and adults the chance the learn deeper kitchen based skills with the potential of utilising these in the workplace in the future. Graduates of this programme will receive a certificate and a written reference from us Sunday lunch club: An open session for all families within our locality to come and learn how to cook one specific recipe that we then eat all together around our collective table. Our project is based in Lambeth, available to all within this locality. Lambeth has the highest rate of child obesity in the country (according to figures released in 2019) which highlights just has essential work like this is.