By Catherine Hayes
Catherine Hayes is one of the winners of this years Spelthorne Business Awards and a run-ner up in the Spelthorne Business competi-tion. She clearly has hit on a great idea. Here she tells us why.
There are many good reasons to teach young children the joys of being in the kitchen. Now more than ever, we need to promote healthy eating habits and encourage food awareness. Did you know that 1 in 5 Year 6 (10–11-year-old) children in primary schools in the UK are considered obese?
My name is Catherine Hayes and I run Total-ly Tangerine Cookery which offers hands on after school cooking clubs in primary schools and online, to teach young children this valua-ble life skill. I have always loved cooking and my passion comes from cooking with my family when I was a young child. I’m always in the kitchen and you may find me baking until the middle of the night! I now cook with my two young children as much as I can, but the lack of cooking offered in primary schools prompted me to start my own cookery school in 2018 so that I can reach more children. The children get to cook savoury and sweet dishes from scratch as well as try new foods and ingredients from around the world which will hopefully spark their curiosity and develop a lifelong love for food.
As well as encouraging children to make healthier eating choices, cooking also gives them the opportunity to learn new skills such as maths, measuring, listening to direction, sensory and cultural awareness. There are so many benefits to cooking with children be-sides learning to cook a recipe; they gain con-fidence and self-worth, they are empowered to cook for themselves and their family. It doesn’t just help their physical health but also their mental health!
Totally Tangerine Cookery is reaching out to more schools in the area to teach this im-portant life skill to more children. I believe it’s also important to work with the local community and is exploring ways to bring local restaurant owners and bakers into her cookery classes as guest speakers for the chil-dren to discover what food choice is available to them and to bring something different to the sessions. I am very proud to have recently won the Best Business in Ashford and Stan-well and was a runner up in the Spelthorne Business Plan Competition. It was such a privilege to be able to talk about what I do to other local businesses in the area!
I am on a mission to teach more children to cook and need people as passionate as me to join the business so that we can offer more cookery classes in primary schools, pre-schools and allow young adults to benefit too! Get in touch if you would like more details…
Catherine Hayes
07974 320678 | contact@totallytangerinecookery.co.uk