A top British chef who has catered for royalty will be cooking up a storm at Northumbria University, Newcastle, to teach the public about healthy eating this summer.
Rob Kennedy, former Executive Chef at military academy Sandhurst for all royal visits, will be cooking and serving free food at the University’s campus on Friday August 3.
The culinary star, now Culinary Director at education catering specialist Chartwells, will join University staff and other top chefs at an interactive exhibition aimed at providing children and the general public with information about healthy living and increase awareness of the problems associated with poor diet.
The ‘Full of Beans’ event – hosted by Northumbria and run in partnership with Chartwells - is aimed at children and parents and is an opportunity for academics to share their research to the general public in a fun and accessible way. Always keen to share the benefits of good food, Kennedy is looking forward to the event.
He said: “We all know that eating well is good for us, but it isn’t easy to create tasty, healthy dishes when busy and on a budget. Through these exhibitions we hope to share simple cooking tips and spread the word about the advantages of healthy living.”
A team of Chartwells nutritionists will also be in attendance over the two-day event, delivering elements of their specialised health and wellbeing education programme. The two-day free event is being supported by Brakes’ Meals & More Programme, and Nutri Troops and is part of this summer’s Great Exhibition of the North series of events.
Professor Greta Defeyter, Director of Healthy Living at Northumbria University, is leading the exhibition.
She said: “There are many confusing messages in the press about what to eat and how much exercise to do. This event, led by qualified experts will provide a fun and interactive way of sorting the facts from fiction for the entire family; including opportunities for the whole family to make some healthy food to eat.”
Running as part of this summer’s Great Exhibition of the North series of events, there will be cooking for all ages, and measuring body fat, accompanied by animation and nutrition-themed adventure stories. There will be healthy cooking demonstrations and taster sessions from a number of chefs and nutritionists from Chartwells and bite-size motivation and health talks from Peter Bakare, founder of Nutri Troops and former Olympian volleyball player.
Pem Hulusi, Brakes Meals & More, said: “A key focus for Meals & More is the provision of easily prepared, affordable meals for families and children and we are delighted to be able to play our part in supporting the development of this wonderful event, raising awareness of important food education and nutrition issues within this community.
“We started a collaborative PhD with Northumbria University in 2015, who are evaluating the impact of our own holiday provision clubs. Being able to enhance this community’s wellbeing is an added bonus and a perfect fit with our ambitions.”
The exhibition takes place from 10am until 4pm on Friday 3rd August and Saturday 4th August 2018. Admission and all food and activities are free.
Northumbria University, through its ground breaking Healthy Living lab, continues to inform and advise the public and a host of professionals including policy makers, academics, businesses and local councils on public health interventions; including school and community breakfast clubs; holiday hunger, nutrition within schools; and the associations between nutrition, cognition and physical activity.
