Strong Voices

Cooking classes running at Comcol North Canterbury deliver a lot more than food prep.

Ask the trainee cooks who spend 10 weeks in the Comcol kitchen, making shopping lists, making food and making friends. They don’t want the classes to end.

IHC North Canterbury Association committee member Kay Pearce came up with the idea and the committee came up with the funds to pay for three 10-week sessions this year. Each session took seven people – and there’s a waiting list, including some who want to do it all again.

The classes are run by Brooke Close, supported by Faye Gread. Brooke is the Programme Coordinator and Tutor for Comcol’s youth re-engagement course GROW.

Faye works in reception and administration. But when it gets to Friday – their usual tasks are set aside for what they both say is the highlight of their week. The trainees arrive, a coffee might be poured for anyone who missed breakfast, then they get down to business deciding what they want to cook for lunch.

The food shopping is well researched. They go online to New World and PAK’nSAVE websites to see who has the best deals, then they go shopping. They are back at Comcol for morning tea before starting the meal preparation for their shared lunch.

The sessions cover equipment safety, hand hygiene, knife skills, safe food handling and the kitchen clean-up afterwards.

“We made many successful items in the kitchen, learning new skills each week, transferable to home life,” Brooke says.

“The first group were identified by IDEA Services, as they were part of the local day programme,” Kay says. “We sought applications for groups two and three from our wider community of people with intellectual disabilities. All classes have been filled each time, plus I have had waiting lists.

“What they have taken away from this programme is confidence and the enjoyment in creating dishes together, of which all will be shared with family and friends in the future.”

Caption: Making hamburgers from scratch are (from left) Kate McClintock, Gillian Hunter, Nick Latz, Alijah Prakash and Logan Moloney.

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